A season-ending ankle fracture and ligament tear was confirmed Monday for Titans tight end Delanie Walker.

Titans’ TE Delanie Walker suffered a broken ankle and ligament damage in there as well, per source. He is not expected to play again in 2018. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 10, 2018

Titans coach Mike Vrabel said Walker will have surgery in the coming days.

Original post at 5:15 p.m. Sunday:


In a game that had endured two lightning delays and lasted longer than any in NFL history, Titans tight end Delanie Walker appeared to suffer a season-ending ankle injury.

With just more than 3½ minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Walker caught a pass and the defender making the tackle rolled up on the back of Walker’s ankle.

By video, he has a fracture dislocation of the right ankle.

WARNING:@Titans and #DelanieWalker fans are not going to want to see this or my article posting soon. pic.twitter.com/mTu3RJ32OW — David J. Chao, MD (@ProFootballDoc) September 10, 2018


It even seemed like the ankle was initially pointing the wrong direction.

This is a similar injury to the one suffered by Odell Beckham Jr. last season and Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota suffered in 2016.

Walker is headed for surgery, and he won’t play again until next year.

The good news is both OBJ and Mariota returned to 100 percent, and Walker should as well.


Neither the weather nor the repeated stops and re-starts likely had any direct affect on this play. Also, while this type of injury is often the result of a horse collar tackle, this was not one.

Here, the defender did not commit a foul but slipped and slid down landing and trapping Walker’s ankle. Typically, the fibula (smaller bone in the ankle) breaks and the syndesmotic ligament is torn completely.

UPDATES:

6:10 p.m. Monday: This article was updated with confirmation of initial analysis.