Delanie Walker Playfully Recalls On-Field Encounter with Mike Vrabel

Current Titans Pro Bowler and head coach played against each other in 2010 -- and there is a picture to prove it

NASHVILLE – Delanie Walker doesn’t have a game to which he can look forward this weekend.

So, the Tennessee Titans tight end decided to look back. And to have some fun with his head coach, who ultimately shared the memory with the rest of the team.

Thursday, Walker posted a picture on Twitter that showed him with the ball when he was with the San Francisco 49ers during a game against the Kansas City Chiefs. On his back, attempting to make a tackle is former Kansas City linebacker and current Tennessee head coach Mike Vrabel.

“Mike Vrabel trying to tackle the boi,” Walker wrote to accompany the picture.

Vrabel’s 14-year playing career ended with two seasons with the Chiefs (2009-10). San Francisco and Kansas City met in Week 3 of the 2010 season, a 31-10 Chiefs’ victory in which Walker caught one pass for six yards ad Vrabel was credited with two tackles. One of those tackles was on Walker’s six-yard reception with 8:22 to play in the third quarter.

“I showed the team this morning,” Vrabel said Friday. “I asked [rookie defensive lineman] Isaiah Mack if he knew who those two players were, and he did. To Mack’s credit, he must have already seen the picture. But I was joking, I said, ‘That was the shortest gain in Delanie Walker’s career,’ and (Wesley Woodyard) goes, ‘It looks like he got a first down, I can see the marker in the background,’ and I was like, ‘Hey Wood, shut up. I didn’t need all that.’”

Actually, it was second-and-20 after an intentional grounding penalty on the previous play. The 49ers punted two plays later.

Walker finished that season with 29 receptions, which was his career-high before he joined the Titans, where he is now the franchise’s all-time leader in receptions by a tight end (381).

He won’t get to add to that total Sunday when the Titans play the Chiefs at Nissan Stadium. Walker was one of three Tennessee players ruled out for that game Friday due to injury (Walker has an ankle issue). It will be the third straight game he is out due to the injury.