Titans smart to lock up Delanie Walker
Taylor Lewan isn’t the only Titan to get paid today. Tight end Delanie Walker is also receiving a nice new two-year contract.
Marcus Mariota isn’t blessed with a ton of weapons in the Titans’ offense, but Delanie Walker is an excellent target for him at the tight end of the position. That’s why locking him up for the next few seasons was a shrewd move by the Tennessee front office.
Per his agent, Walker will get a two-year, $17 million extension from the team that features an $8 million signing bonus. Only $12.6 million is guaranteed, but that’s still a pretty good haul for Walker considering his age. Of course, 33-year-old tight ends aren’t famous for getting big-money contracts.
Re-signing Walker was the Titans’ second major personnel move of the day. The team also made left tackle Taylor Lewan the highest paid offensive lineman in NFL history. His deal will give him the opportunity to earn $80 million over the next five seasons.
The #Titans are doing work: This time, they locked up TE Delanie Walker to a 2-year, $17M extension with $8M in a signing bonus, per agent @Loyalty24_7. In all, he gets $12.6M in guarantees. Not bad for a 33-year-old.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 27, 2018
The real victory for the Titans in regards to Walker’s contract is the number of years in the deal. It’s very likely that his performance will start to drop off precipitously sometime over the next several seasons.
Signing him to a two-year extension at a pretty reasonable cap number protects the Titans from his eventual decline. Giving him a five-year contract with this save annual value would have been a disaster. Extending Walker by only two years makes it a very favorable contract for the team.
It’s a good deal for Walker too. He’s one of the best tight ends in football right now and he does a lot to cover up the Titans’ lack of talent at the wide receiver position. He knows he can’t keep playing like this forever though. Getting one more big payday before his skills really start to decline is good business by Walker and his representatives.
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The Titans need to find more pass catchers to make their offense less reliant on Delanie Walker, but at least he’ll still be around for the next few seasons. His extension is a win-win for both the player and the Tennessee franchise.