Backup Walker looks up to starter Davis

By Darrell Laurant  |   Friday, August 17, 2007  |  Comments( 28 )

San Francisco 49ers
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Something about Delanie Walker is reassuring.

As pro football becomes more and more like a factory assembly line, it's nice to see someone playing very well at a position he's the wrong size for.

The trend these days is for tight ends to resemble power forwards. The prototypes are guys like Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez and Vernon Davis, who is playing ahead of Walker in San Francisco.

Walker is built more like an overweight point guard -- 6 feet, 244 pounds. In college at Central Missouri State (a place that will probably never host ESPN's Game Day), he was a wide receiver who caught 113 passes in 20 games. He also ran three kickoffs back for touchdowns, and there aren't many NFL tight ends who can say that.

"On that level," said one 49ers scout, "he dominated."

Small school or not, the 49ers took Walker in the sixth round last year and pointed him toward the weight room. He was a shade under 230 then, too big to be a wideout but a bit undersized for a tight end. Throughout most of his first season (after he recovered from a shoulder injury suffered in training camp), Walker was used mainly as a Frank Wycheck-style H-back.

As a recent preseason game with Denver demonstrated, however, the native of California has bulked up and is now very much a tight end. He caught four passes for 35 yards in that 17-13 loss and threw a crushing block that sprang Maurice Hicks for a first-down run.

There are three more prelude games to go, but Walker also got a leg up on the stiff competition for the backup tight end position behind Davis (who didn't have a catch versus Denver). Of that group, Bill Bajema caught one pass, Zac Herold and Zachary Hilton were blanked.

Mike Nolan actually used a two-tight end set on several occasions last season, thus giving Walker his first career start on Dec. 3. He then grabbed two passes for 30 yards against Green Bay.

Walker endeared himself to 49er fans last year with a couple of lengthy runs on kickoffs, one in which he hurdled a tackler.

Bajema, his main competition, is perhaps a more intimidating blocker at 256 pounds, but he didn't catch a pass last year.

Should Davis get hurt, Walker now has the experience to take his place. He couldn't fill his shoes, though -- they're probably too big.
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