Former 49er Delanie Walker impressed by ex-team's recent success

SANTA CLARA - This Sunday, the 49ers will face one of their former star players, Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker.

Walker played in the Super Bowl with the 49ers almost five years ago, and caught three passes for 48 yards in the 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. A few months later, he signed with the Titans. To this day, he still watches the 49ers closely.

“They're actually playing very well,” Walker said Wednesday morning on a conference call with Bay Area reporters. “Probably because of this Jimmy (Garoppolo).

“Jimmy is a good quarterback, and you can see it. He managed the game well. I think that was the best thing for the organization, to play him. And he's doing a great job. And the defense is playing fast. You can see them being explosive and really trying to help their offense out by getting other offenses off the field.”

What other qualities does Walker see in Garoppolo?

“He gets the ball out of his hands. He understands defenses. You can see him making the checks. I watch the offense. I want to see what they're doing. And he's doing a good job. Even though he threw two touchdowns, two interceptions, at the end of the day I think he's doing a great job of controlling the game, and that's what quarterbacks are supposed to do.”

Walker might be playing with Garoppolo and not against him on Sunday had things gone differently after the Super Bowl.

Walker was a key member of the Super Bowl team. He was the 49ers' No. 2 tight end behind Vernon Davis.

They played together in two-tight end formations, which the 49ers used frequently under head coach Jim Harbaugh.

“Honestly, Harbaugh was trying to do basically everything in his power to get the deal done for me to stay,” Walker said. “But I don't think the GM (Trent Baalke) was seeing the same picture as Harbaugh at that time. I realized that it was time for me to go somewhere else and show everybody how good I can be at the No. 1 spot, and that's what I've been doing so far.”

Instead of re-signing Walker, Baalke replaced him by drafting Vance McDonald.

This season, McDonald has caught nine passes as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Since Baalke chose to let Walker leave, Walker has gone to two Pro Bowls and caught 345 passes for 4,067 yards and 25 touchdowns. Meanwhile, the 49ers have gotten rid of Baalke, Harbaugh, McDonald, Vernon Davis and everyone Walker played with except offensive tackle Joe Staley, center Daniel Kilgore and tight end Garrett Celek.

“We had a lot of guys that were pretty good on that team,” Walker said, “and a lot of their contracts were coming up. So it was going to be hard to keep some of those players. I knew at some point that team probably was going to get broken up.”

Now, the 49ers are rebuilding. And Walker is impressed with the team they've built so far.

“They want to win,” Walker said. “You can see it in their style of play, how they've been finishing games. They want to win, and I think that they feel like they need to win for Jimmy, to give him that confidence to say that this team, we can win games.

“When you want to give your quarterback confidence, you play for him. You play harder. You do the extra. And I think that's what you're seeing right now from the 49ers, them doing the extra to get these wins.

“You can see (Garoppolo) being a true leader, even though he came in in the middle of the season. I see him as a leader on that team the way he's been performing. They're on the rise. If we take them lightly, they will beat us. We've got to go out there not looking at their record, but looking at the style of their play.”

Las Vegas oddsmakers expect the 49ers will beat the Titans. The Titans are two-point underdogs even though they have eight wins and are playing for a playoff spot. The 49ers have three wins and cannot make the playoffs.

But the 49ers won three of their past four games, and the Titans lost last week to the Arizona Cardinals.

“Every game we've played so far, the other team has been the favorite,” Walker said. “That's normal. I expect that from the league and all the networks. They downplay the Titans.

“But again, the 49ers are hot, so I understand why they're saying that they're playing well. Obviously, they're probably going off our last performance against the Cardinals. But, everybody in this locker room is disappointed about that loss, so we're really focusing on getting back on track.

“Sorry to say this, but the 49ers are standing in the way.”

NOTES

The 49ers placed undrafted rookie wide receiver Victor Bolden Jr. on the injured reserve list with an ankle injury he suffered Sunday against the Houston Texans. Bolden was the 49ers' primary kick returner. He appeared in nine games and returned 19 kickoffs for 396 yards (20.8 yards per return).

To fill Bolden's spot on the 53-man roster, the 49ers signed former undrafted free agent wide receiver Max McCaffrey. McCaffrey appeared in five games this season with the Jacksonville Jaguars and caught one pass and returned one punt. He is the son of former 49ers wide receiver Ed McCaffrey and the older brother of Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey.

You can reach Grant Cohn at grantcohn@gmail.com or on Twitter @grantcohn.