Titans' Delanie Walker not giving up on returning from injury this season

Erik Bacharach | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption Titans tight end Delanie Walker on his recovery from ankle injury Titans tight end Delanie Walker on his journey back from a Week 1 ankle injury that forced him to be placed on injured reserve.

Delanie Walker is not giving up.

“If I was giving up,” the Titans tight end said, “I wouldn’t even be here getting rehab and treatment. I would just wait until next year.”

Instead, Walker was in the Titans locker room Wednesday, taking a few minutes to chat with reporters about his continued recovery from a gruesome ankle injury in Week 1 that forced the Titans to place him on injured reserve.

The 34-year-old tight end, who only began walking with crutches a little over two weeks ago, remains without a firm timetable for return. More than once, though, he mentioned the playoffs as a potential target for return in a best-case scenario.

“In my mind, it's just to get healthy. But in the back of my mind, if I can get healthy earlier where I can come back and play, I’m going to do that,” said Walker, who sat at his locker with his right foot in a bulky walking boot and a pair of crutches off to the side. “But like I told you guys, I really don’t know. I don’t know what the time length is going to be. I feel good right now. Could I feel better when the time comes when we’re in the playoffs? Yeah. We’ll see. But right now, I’m just worried about taking it day by day just to get healthy and be able to come back next year. But if I can play this year, I will."

Walker said he had two titanium rods placed in his leg during his surgery.

"I want to get out there as fast as I can," Walker said. "I know everyone always says I heal fast. I’m not trying to let people down. Just trying to heal as fast (as) I can. But again, it’s just going to be if I feel good enough to go out there, if we make it to the playoffs or not, or whenever I can come back.

"I’m walking pretty fine. Still need some more flexibility in my foot. But from what the doctors tell me, it’s looking good and it’s great to see my walking. So if they feel good about it, I feel good about it."

In his place, Jonnu Smith is finally starting to have an impact offensively. The second-year tight end has five catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns over the past two games.

"He’s been a legit tight end this whole season," Walker said. "It just takes him getting the ball, him getting in the end zone for you to get recognition. It’s sad that this league don’t see tight ends as blockers. When you make a good block, they don’t really care. They (say), ‘Oh, he’s not playing well because he didn’t catch the ball.’ But now that he’s got a few catches, everyone’s going to talk about him. But like I said before, he’s been doing this. He just needs this opportunity to be seen, and he got to be seen against New England."

Reach Erik Bacharach at ebacharach@tennessean.com and on Twitter @ErikBacharach.

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