Report: Patriots showing interest in free agent Delanie Walker
98.5 The Sports Hub staff report
Free agent Delanie Walker isn’t ready to call it a career just yet.
And the 35-year-old tight end’s offseason preparation to play in 2020 has led to interest from multiple NFL teams, including the New England Patriots, Free agent TE Delanie Walker, 35, is training for the season and has received levels of interest from several teams, including the Patriots, per source. Had four straight 800-plus-yard seasons from 2014-17.
In what was the final season of his seven-season run with Tennessee, Walker totaled 21 catches for 215 yards and two touchdowns in seven games in 2019 before a lingering ankle injury landed him on the injured reserve.
It was the same ankle that limited Walker to just one contest in 2018, too, meaning that those ligament issues have held him out of all but eight of 32 contests over the last two seasons.
Walker was one of the game’s most reliable tight ends prior to these health concerns, though, with five straight years of at least 60 catches from 2013 through 2017, and with four straight years of at least 800 yards between 2014 and 2017. The 6-foot-2 was a three-time Pro Bowler during that run, with three straight nods from 2015 through 2017.
The Patriots’ reported interest comes on the heels of Matt LaCosse, one of the lone tight ends on the New England roster with any sort of prior NFL experience, opting out of the 2020 season.
But the Patriots are not the only team showing interest in Walker, as noted by Fowler, and confirmed with I'm told the #Ravens are still looking at tight ends, and that includes available free agents like Delanie Walker and Jordan Reed to possibly add in camp, per league source.
The Patriots went back-to-back at tight end in the 2020 NFL Draft, drafting Dalton Keene and Devin Asiasi, and currently have five tight ends signed to their training camp roster.
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