Replacing Delanie Walker... Yes or No?

Originally posted by BrianGO:
Some college kid runs fast in shorts, and suddenly people picture Smith lobbing countless red-zone touchdowns to him like Drew Brees or Tom Brady. We have Davis and Walker, but suddenly they become too slow, short and clumsy to do those things.

Even at his age, Randy Moss has better hands, body control and leaping ability than any rookie in this year's draft will ever have. Of course, it takes a lot more than those things to score red-zone touchdowns.

Bless you, Brian. God Bless you.

Walker is ok. If we ran multiple wr sets with only 1 TE than I say keep Walker as a decent backup because you can resign him for cheap after this year. Since we run 2 and 3 TE sets alot, Walker becomes a non factor on offense. He's a guy that we all want to work out and he does do a lot, but those roles can all be filled in by another player. What 1 thing does Delanie do for this team that can't be replaced? I think Phoenix keeps pointing out that the stats don't lie. Every single year is mediocre. I don't hate the guy. I think many people on the zone wish he would do better for the team. But if we are a run heavy offense and we use multiple TE sets, people just want a 2nd TE that is BIG and fast... another big TE for Alex and another target that is bigger than the LB that will be covering him. Walker isn't any of those things. I do think he would be good as the 3rd option TE but that's only if we upgrade the 2 spot first. It's doesn't have to be Fleener either. We just like to imagine what Harbaugh can do with him since he already knows him.

Walker is one of those guys who does many things reallly well but is not elite in any one area. ST, receiving, running end arounds, blocking, playing from the backfield, motion...etc. The guy is a valuable player to the team but my one concern is his tendency toward injury...not the broken jaw, as that was a freak accident that could happen to anyone, but his leg problems.

Can he be replaced? Sure, but why would you want to take away a player under contract for an unknown? Rather, a player like Fleener could add to the mix and I could see Harbaugh using all the TEs a lot. Don't think Fleener lasts until 30 though.

He was fun to watch returning kicks that offseason too I say keep D Love!

I'm sick and tired of Delanie Walker doing nearly everything else a premier player does except for produce. We play a heavy two tight end offense and need both to be able to produce on call. Delanie isn't that player. Sick and tired of these 200 yard seasons that any basic fullback can equal. He's not a great FB, he's not a great TE, and he's not a great WR.

This is like the Alex Smith syndrome. We respect Delanie's work ethic and everything else he does but one can't overlook the production and Delanie's is below the average TE.

Originally posted by Joecool:
I'm sick and tired of Delanie Walker doing nearly everything else a premier player does except for produce. We play a heavy two tight end offense and need both to be able to produce on call. Delanie isn't that player. Sick and tired of these 200 yard seasons that any basic fullback can equal. He's not a great FB, he's not a great TE, and he's not a great WR.

This is like the Alex Smith syndrome. We respect Delanie's work ethic and everything else he does but one can't overlook the production and Delanie's is below the average TE.

Yea, we should trade away a #2 that does everything but get yards. The San Francisco 49ers will not stand for having a #2 TE. We have to have a #1 starter and a #1 backup waiting for the one play every series he goes in, probably in a run situation, catch the 5 yd dumpoff and run through 11 defenders 95 yds for a TD.

I have said this in other threads. The problem is he is not a TE. He is a HB. Im sure there are limitations to what harbaugh can do with him in the two TE sets. This in turn limits what we can do with VD in two TE sets. He is highly liked on these boards, and i like him two, the problem is he is also highly overrated. He is not the TE alot of people make him out to be.

Not only would bringing in a second REAL TE help this offense immensely, just from production from the second TE alone, what i don't see mentioned, is the fact that VD's #'s would sky rocket if Harbaugh had the ability to use him in any capacity all over the field. Lacking a second TE that can block and be a reliable possetion TE limits what we are able to do with VD in the two TE sets.

who says we can't use all 3? we've kept up to 4 TE's on the roster in the past i believe.

Originally posted by ChazBoner:
who says we can't use all 3? we've kept up to 4 TE's on the roster in the past i believe.

yes, I guess I must be missing something but I was kind of thinking that if they draft fleener with the number one or anyone else later in the draft, we are keeping all three cuz that is what the coach likes to have. I like wallker as well as the next person but sheesh if you can find someone to block and maybe catch more balls and make more plays than him, then yes you do not resign him after this year

Originally posted by mkmasn:

Originally posted by Joecool:
I'm sick and tired of Delanie Walker doing nearly everything else a premier player does except for produce. We play a heavy two tight end offense and need both to be able to produce on call. Delanie isn't that player. Sick and tired of these 200 yard seasons that any basic fullback can equal. He's not a great FB, he's not a great TE, and he's not a great WR.

This is like the Alex Smith syndrome. We respect Delanie's work ethic and everything else he does but one can't overlook the production and Delanie's is below the average TE.

Yea, we should trade away a #2 that does everything but get yards. The San Francisco 49ers will not stand for having a #2 TE. We have to have a #1 starter and a #1 backup waiting for the one play every series he goes in, probably in a run situation, catch the 5 yd dumpoff and run through 11 defenders 95 yds for a TD.

The way this offense uses 2 TE formations, Delanie isn't even a #2. His production is #4 type production.

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by mkmasn:

Originally posted by Joecool:
I'm sick and tired of Delanie Walker doing nearly everything else a premier player does except for produce. We play a heavy two tight end offense and need both to be able to produce on call. Delanie isn't that player. Sick and tired of these 200 yard seasons that any basic fullback can equal. He's not a great FB, he's not a great TE, and he's not a great WR.

This is like the Alex Smith syndrome. We respect Delanie's work ethic and everything else he does but one can't overlook the production and Delanie's is below the average TE.

Yea, we should trade away a #2 that does everything but get yards. The San Francisco 49ers will not stand for having a #2 TE. We have to have a #1 starter and a #1 backup waiting for the one play every series he goes in, probably in a run situation, catch the 5 yd dumpoff and run through 11 defenders 95 yds for a TD.

The way this offense uses 2 TE formations, Delanie isn't even a #2. His production is #4 type production.

The way this offense uses two TE sets is to have the second TE in primarily for blocking, as the numbers show. That's why they signed Byham, who ended up missing the season. So if your blocking TE is out, who do you think that load falls on?

Originally posted by Joecool:
The way this offense uses 2 TE formations, Delanie isn't even a #2. His production is #4 type production.

Yes. walker is a nice player but come on, the amount of mismatches we can create with fleener and vernon are mind boggling

Originally posted by mkmasn:
The way this offense uses two TE sets is to have the second TE in primarily for blocking, as the numbers show. That's why they signed Byham, who ended up missing the season. So if your blocking TE is out, who do you think that load falls on?

Mismatches....once again mismatches, I could two s**ts about whether the 49ers draft a WR, TE or RB as long as they can maximize the amount of mismatches on offense. What you wrote basically says everything. Walker is in there to block, defenses KNOW he's in there to block and if he goes out on a pattern, he's still only 6 feet tall so teams simply shift a safety or CB over towards him and that is that, additionally when he does get the ball thrown his way, he doesn't always have the greatest hands.


The reason why so many want Fleener has to do with the mismatches that Fleener can create. You can't stop a 6'6" TE with 4.5 speed with a single safety....you can try, but most likely its not going to work out all too well for you. Now have Fleener and VD going out on routes at the same time with Moss and Crabtree on the field and the defense is screwed, they will have to take a chance and cheat on somebody, now you have 3 big bodied receivers out on routes and Alex with his tendency to overthrow will find one of them with inadequate coverage....to me that just screams big-play and red-zone touchdown potential. With a guy like Fleener, you really have to allocate a linebacker to defend him but the number of linebackers that are good enough in pass coverage is few and far between.


Fleener creates a mismatch. Walker doesn't. He's 6 feet tall and he doesn't really have a position, he's a great blocker, but he's not a playmaker, not one to rely on consistently, especially on 3rd down. When you play over 50% of your offense out of a 2 TE set, both those tight-ends have to be legitimate offensive threats and playmakers. It'd be like having a #2 WR that's a great blocker downfield but can't catch anything thrown his way. Its nice to have, but the key is, the 49ers CAN do better and for a team that struggled specifically on 3rd down and in the red-zone, a big bodied TE is a major weapon to be able to improve in regards to that.

We can acquire a true FB who can block better than Walker and still get that FB to produce 200 yards receiving. Walker isn't even a great blocker. Most of his blocks are misdirection blocks that gives him leverage. His greatest asset is understanding the offense, which can easily be filled by Fleener.

Originally posted by Joecool:
We can acquire a true FB who can block better than Walker and still get that FB to produce 200 yards receiving. Walker isn't even a great blocker. Most of his blocks are misdirection blocks that gives him leverage. His greatest asset is understanding the offense, which can easily be filled by Fleener.

If this team had 2 great WR's and Harbaugh's offensive system focused on WR's not TE's, Walker would be a heck of backup to have, but in this offense he's less of a backup and more of a starter and you can't be a starter and go 8 games without making a single reception, that's just nuts.


"Because he was in there to block."


b******t, yeah he did block a lot, but go back and look at the previous games and how many times he went out on a route and got bottled up in coverage by a safety or nickelback, he had a few plays where he broke free and made some nice catches downfield, he also had some drops downfield but a lot of the time, he wasn't able to create separation.


The blocking is nice, is it good enough to make up for the lack of production offensively, I don't think so. This is why guys who are true TE's go much earlier in the draft than an h-back, no matter how talented.