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Walker Doing Great As A Texan
As the Titans travel to Houston Sunday to play the Texans they will face Pro-Bowl defensive tackle Gary Walker who started his career with the Titans organization when the Houston Oilers drafted him in the 1995 draft.
The Texans selected Walker from the Jacksonville Jaguars in the expansion draft where he was reunited with Jaguars defensive coordinator and now Texans head coach Dom Capers.
Walker, who was an all-rookie selection in 1995 for the Oilers, said that some people might have overlooked him while he was with Tennessee because of a lack of sacks.
''The people that were around me in Tennessee, we didn’t have a Jevon Kearse,'' Walker said. ''When I got to Jacksonville we had Tony Brackens, who is a good outside rushing end and when you have a good end getting up the field and pressuring the quarterback, making the quarterback step up, you can do more in the middle.''
''I felt like I played the run decent when I was up there,'' Walker said. ''It was just a lack of pass rush production.''
Walker in his last three seasons with the Titans had 167 tackles and 13.5 sacks. In his last three seasons with the Jaguars, Walker recorded 212 tackles and 22.5 sacks and was selected to the Pro-Bowl in 2001. This season Walker has a career high 105 tackles. Walker leads the Texans with 37 quarterback pressures and 5.5 sacks.
Walker said he spoke briefly with one of his former teammates this week about Sunday’s game.
''I talked to Henry Ford, briefly on the phone, he is about the last of the Mohicans on the defensive side,'' Walker said.
Walker, now in his eighth season in the league, has become one of leaders in the locker room for the Texans.
''I remember calling Bruce Matthews and those guys old men, and now I look up and I am the second oldest guy on this team.''
Capers said that Walker has been a great leader on and off the field.
''He has been outstanding. He has really grown as a football player; he has been a very good leader in the locker room for us,'' Capers said. ''He understands what it takes to win, he is extremely competitive and he wants to win and wants to do well.''
''A lot of our younger players look to our veterans to see how they study the game, and he works very hard on the practice field. The people he plays against have a lot of respect for him or he would not be playing the Pro-Bowl.''
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