The San Francisco 49ers roster has seen a great deal of chance since tight end Delanie Walker was on the team. Only tackle Joe Staley, center Daniel Kilgore, and tight end Garrett Celek remain from Walker's tenure with the 49ers. He will be visiting Levi's Stadium for the first time since joining the Tennessee Titans in 2013.
On Wednesday morning, Walker jumped on a conference call with Bay Area media. But before that, he joined this week's "Taylor Price Talk" podcast and shared his thoughts on the Titans next opponent – his former team.
"From what I've seen on film, guys are very explosive up front," Walker told Price. "Got some guys that can make some plays that we'll have to keep an eye on, make sure we put the right protection on the linebackers. They're pretty fast getting around the ball. They can make plays and, of course, their [defensive backs] are truly some of the leaders of the team, so them dudes is always going to be explosive in the game.
"They're some plays we've got for them, see what they're going to throw at us, but at the end of the day, we're just going to come out and play clean, tight football and basically see what happens at the end, right?"
The Titans, who are 8-5, are currently the fifth seed in the AFC's playoff picture. The 49ers, who are eliminated from playoff contention, are merely trying to finish the 2017 season strong around new starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
Garoppolo has re-energized the 49ers and led the team to two-straight wins in his first two starts with San Francisco. The 49ers, who are winners of three of their last four, hope to win their fourth game of the season against the visiting Titans on Sunday.
"They're not going to lay down," Walker said of the Kyle Shanahan-led 49ers. "We know that. They're going to come out and play their best football, and we're going to have to do the exact same. We don't think that it's just a game where we're going to take a W. We've seen what they've been doing lately.
"They do got a quarterback that's coming out and making plays and basically doing what a quarterback's supposed to do, and that's control the game. So, we're going to be smart and make sure we play the game as hard as we can possibly play it."
Walker was drafted out of Central Missouri by the 49ers in 2006 and spent seven years in San Francisco. He has a lot of memories. One of his favorites involved his old coach, Jim Harbaugh.
"One day, we had meetings, and everything and they were like, 'Jim Harbaugh can't make it,'" Walker shared. "We were like, 'What? What's going on?' I think maybe, at the time, one of our quarterbacks was hurt so he was going to be the practice squad quarterback.
"We go outside, and we see this guy outside with the uniform on, got these old cleats, old Nike Shark cleats, I think he had on some Pumas, I don't really remember, warming up. Warming up. And he played quarterback that whole scout team practice, man. I thought that was always hilarious and I think everybody to this day still thinks the same thing that he actually came out and did that."
Walker said he doesn't remember how Harbaugh, who played quarterback in the NFL from 1987 through 2001, performed while quarterbacking the 49ers' scout team.
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