Safety Tracy Walker Is Lions' "Best-Kept Secret"
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Fair to say, 2019 was not a good year for the Lions on the defensive front.
They failed to stop opposing offenses all season long, allowing the 31st-most yards per game at 400.4 yards a contest.
The defense, which was run by now ex-Lions defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni, also allowed the 26th-most points per game at 26.4 points a game.
Subsequently, Detroit's defensive unit a season ago did not feature many bright spots.
One of the lone positives was safety Tracy Walker, a third-round pick of Detroit general manager Bob Quinn's in 2018 out of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Walker totaled a team-leading 103 tackles in 13 games in 2019. He also recorded eight passes defensed, six tackles for loss, one interception and one forced fumble.
And according to Bleacher Report's Gary Davenport, he's Detroit's "best-kept secret" heading into the 2020 campaign.
As Davenport writes,
"In a season that was short on bright spots, Walker was one for the Lions. Not only did he up his game after entering the lineup as a full-time starter, but he also became one of the team's most dependable tacklers. It's not every day when a safety leads his team in tackles, but that's exactly what Walker did in 2019."
The Lions' defense isn't expected to be very good this upcoming season, either.
So, a lot will be riding on Walker, in his third year as a pro, to step up his game even further.
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