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Delanie Walker - Where's the Love?


MTSuper7
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I see Delanie Walker is ranked 12th on the Huddle's PPR TE rankings, behind guys like Zach Miller and Julius Thomas. I'd love to see this discussed, as Walker was a PPR dynamo last year, and even with thunder and thunder at RB, this team is going to have to throw the ball like everyone else. I don't buy that Rishard Matthews and Tajae Sharpe all of a sudden command more targets than last year's riff raff at WR, so why the heck is Walker a fringe TE1 in the rankings?

Edited by MTSuper7
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Walker ended with 94-1088-6 for career highs in all categories. His next best year only had 63 receptions. The Titans best receiver otherwise was Dorial Green-Beckham with 32-549-4 and he was just swapped for a back-up lineman. They had no receivers and a rookie QB. They intentionally upgraded the 2015 WRs that were worthless. Brought in Rishard Matthews and Andre Johnson. Drafted Tajae Sharpe. Maybe get more than 10 games out of Kendall Wright.

 

TEN ended the year with Walker getting 49 catches over the final seven games. Four of his final five games had him with at least 12 targets per game. Walker had almost twice as many targets as any other TEN WR and well over half in the final weeks when Kendall Wright was out and all they had was Harry Douglas and DGB. DGB is gone and Douglas is once again buried on the depth chart where he belongs.

 

Marcus Mariota relied on Walker and almost no WR because he had no real options. Now he does. And now he has two far better RBs to man the rushing game and even act as receivers.

 

Mariota should also make the normal transition to throwing down the field for his second year. And now there are far better WR there to catch it.

 

Lastly, this is an all new offense with all new coaches. If they design the offense to again go through a 32 year old TE, then everyone there has failed to do their job.

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Why can't I like that DMD post?

 

 

Every year is 'gonna be Ertz' year, but I think this could very well be that year. He came on strong at the end of last season (especially in PPR), getting 39 targets in the last three games. He personally helped me win my championship in week 16 during that 13-122 game. For the same reason Walker flourished last season, Ertz could be that guy for the Eagles this year, as Bradford will literally have no one else to throw to.

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Why can't I like that DMD post?

 

 

Every year is 'gonna be Ertz' year, but I think this could very well be that year. He came on strong at the end of last season (especially in PPR), getting 39 targets in the last three games. He personally helped me win my championship in week 16 during that 13-122 game. For the same reason Walker flourished last season, Ertz could be that guy for the Eagles this year, as Bradford will literally have no one else to throw to.

 

No ability to "like" admin's posts here.

 

Decent breakdown on Ertz. His stats last year were fantastic if you really break them down.

 

Don't think Walker will have the huge target numbers this year.

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Walker ended with 94-1088-6 for career highs in all categories. His next best year only had 63 receptions. The Titans best receiver otherwise was Dorial Green-Beckham with 32-549-4 and he was just swapped for a back-up lineman. They had no receivers and a rookie QB. They intentionally upgraded the 2015 WRs that were worthless. Brought in Rishard Matthews and Andre Johnson. Drafted Tajae Sharpe. Maybe get more than 10 games out of Kendall Wright.

 

TEN ended the year with Walker getting 49 catches over the final seven games. Four of his final five games had him with at least 12 targets per game. Walker had almost twice as many targets as any other TEN WR and well over half in the final weeks when Kendall Wright was out and all they had was Harry Douglas and DGB. DGB is gone and Douglas is once again buried on the depth chart where he belongs.

 

Marcus Mariota relied on Walker and almost no WR because he had no real options. Now he does. And now he has two far better RBs to man the rushing game and even act as receivers.

 

Mariota should also make the normal transition to throwing down the field for his second year. And now there are far better WR there to catch it.

 

Lastly, this is an all new offense with all new coaches. If they design the offense to again go through a 32 year old TE, then everyone there has failed to do their job.

good answer

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I see Delanie Walker is ranked 12th on the Huddle's PPR TE rankings, behind guys like Zach Miller and Julius Thomas. I'd love to see this discussed, as Walker was a PPR dynamo last year, and even with thunder and thunder at RB, this team is going to have to throw the ball like everyone else. I don't buy that Rishard Matthews and Tajae Sharpe all of a sudden command more targets than last year's riff raff at WR, so why the heck is Walker a fringe TE1 in the rankings?

 

I agree. How is that possible? Who else are they going to throw the rock to? The WRs they have now aren't exactly Jerry Rice and Tim Brown.

Edited by Trojanmojo
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I agree. How is that possible? Who else are they going to throw the rock to? The WRs they have now aren't exactly Jerry Rice and Tim Brown.

 

I think their WR corps and their RB corps have both clearly been upgraded from last year. Walker's market share of that offense is virtually guaranteed to decline.

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I think their WR corps and their RB corps have both clearly been upgraded from last year. Walker's market share of that offense is virtually guaranteed to decline.

 

I agree with the RB's being upgraded but I still think this is a team that will be behind a lot and will need to pass the ball when they are. I don't see DW falling behind guys like Rishard and Tajae in targets though. These guys would not be starters on almost any other NFL team.

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I agree with the RB's being upgraded but I still think this is a team that will be behind a lot and will need to pass the ball when they are. I don't see DW falling behind guys like Rishard and Tajae in targets though. These guys would not be starters on almost any other NFL team.

 

Rishard is going overlooked. He is a great late round WR and is the likely receiving yardage (and maybe target) leader in TEN, IMO. Kendall Write coming back is a big deal too.

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I agree with the RB's being upgraded but I still think this is a team that will be behind a lot and will need to pass the ball when they are. I don't see DW falling behind guys like Rishard and Tajae in targets though. These guys would not be starters on almost any other NFL team.

This. Someone has to lead the team in targets and my money is on Delanie. In the nine games Mularkey managed, Walker saw 10 or more targets five times and 26 percent of his team’s total targets. This seems to be spun negatively in DMD's post; I see it the other way. Mularkey has a history of feeding the top target a lot of receptions.

 

Kendall Wright was injured last year and still hasn't stepped foot on the field so far in preseason; he's nothing special. Rishard Matthews leads the team in targets? Maybe, but there is really no history to suggest this will happen.

 

I'm not buying into the speculation that DW's opportunity for targets should go down because of a journeyman and rookie WR being added to the roster. I get he isn't an elite athletic TE, but someone should forgot to tell Witten and Gates that their fantasy relevance ended at age 32.

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Not sure I would put Walker in the same boat with Gates or Witten who excelled for over a decade each, not just a unique season. And even Witten's decline started when he was 32. Walker is not going to disappear by any means, but he was the 9th best TE in 2014 and 12th best in 2013 at TEN. He stats skewed tremendously at the last part of 2015 when there was literally no one to throw to and no one that could run the ball. He had 18 catches in his last 2 games. He led the NFL TEs in both targets and catches. Gary Barnidge had a similar season. Does anyone expect him to repeat? Only way that Walker repeats close to 2015 is if the team implodes again.

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Not sure I would put Walker in the same boat with Gates or Witten who excelled for over a decade each, not just a unique season.

 

I was trying to make that clear by somewhat mentioning their names in jest. Walker has had 60+ catches in three straight seasons, including a 890 yard season in 2014 (in addition to his 1089 yard season last year). As you mentioned, it's not like he's a one hit wonder in terms of TE1 production. You are projecting for the lower end production over his last 3 seasons. That could very well happen. But, I see a coach and QB who like to target him and a lack of quality and/or historcially utilized WRs around him to make a fundamental shift away from that.

 

Whether they implode or not to me is secondary to looking at who is available to get receiving targets. Kendall Wright's targets have dropped over the last two consecutive seasons; his targets are close to DW's actual catch totals. Matthews had 64 targets last year and AJ was nearly invisible in a high octane offense. They drafted a rookie WR in the 5th round. I don't necessarily buy into RBs taking a substantial cut of targets; again Mularkey has fairly consistently fed the #1 receiving target a fair share of opportunities (Ward, R. White, .even Justin Blackmon).

 

Some non RB on the Titans stands to get a lot of target opportunities. My speculation is that DW gets enough opportunity to remain a top 5 TE - we shall see.

Edited by Bobby Brown
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I think he will do well once again the RZ. They released Justin Hunter, I think, who was supposed to be the tall go-jump-and-get-it guy. Walker is sneaky good in the RZ, so who's gonna catch the tds? Walker isn't huge, but I think he might just surprise once again with 8 or so tds. The catches may go down, with all the new mouths to feed, but I don't think it will be enough to drop him out of top 10.

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Rishard Mathews had more yards and catches in MIA last year as a part time WR than any TEN WR. Plus Tajae Sharp. Plus RBs that can catch. Johnson is probably done agreed. But there is more to throw to this year than last.

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Rishard Matthews started and played a total of 11 games last year; Dorial Green Beckham started 5 (became more integrated later in the year) while playing all 16. Their utilization was actually very similar with Matthews having more efficiency. Granted DGB was a rookie WR catching passes from a rookie QB; so the better efficiency from Matthews isn't all that unexpected.

 

DGB: 1 target every 8.7 snaps, 32- 549, 4 TDs

Matthews: 1 target every 8.5 snaps, 43-662, , 4 TDs

 

Matthews has never gotten as many targets in a season as DGB did starting 5 games as a rookie.

 

Matthews signed a modest contract and is entering his 5th year as a pro. DGB is gone and Matthews seems like a slight upgrade. Is Matthews really going to take away that many targets from Delanie that weren't already taken away last year? I suppose he might.

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I appreciate this discussion and the justifications listed for why Walker is ranked where he is. I think listing him 12th is a little harsh, but I have to respect the thought that goes into these rankings.

 

I think there is one thing that is being overlooked with the analysis that might justify Walker cracking your top ten: Mariota trusts Walker. He obviously has built a rapport with Walker, and unless one of the WRs steps up to prove himself as being "the man", it seems unlikely that Mariota will all of a sudden stop looking to the guy who essentially was that offense last year. Maybe Rishard Matthews can be that guy. He's got the best shot.

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Not sure I would put Walker in the same boat with Gates or Witten who excelled for over a decade each, not just a unique season. And even Witten's decline started when he was 32. Walker is not going to disappear by any means, but he was the 9th best TE in 2014 and 12th best in 2013 at TEN. He stats skewed tremendously at the last part of 2015 when there was literally no one to throw to and no one that could run the ball. He had 18 catches in his last 2 games. He led the NFL TEs in both targets and catches. Gary Barnidge had a similar season. Does anyone expect him to repeat? Only way that Walker repeats close to 2015 is if the team implodes again.

 

Good tie in with Barnidge, the Browns fed him the ball because they had little running game and horrible WR options. Now they've gotten Pryor more work and he is doing pretty well. Gordon will be back in week 5 and the rookie Coleman looks good too. No way he comes close to last year's production.

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