NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker is a pro who understands how things work in the NFL.
As a guest of the radio show I co-host in Nashville, The Midday 180, Walker said Friday players will ultimately embrace Marcus Mariota as the team’s quarterback and marketing face.
It’s a case of falling in line or fall aside.
“You better adjust or you won’t be in the locker room,” he said. “That’s just how it works. This is a business. At the end of he day, Zach [Mettenberger] is our friend, we hang out with him, but it comes down to who’s going to help us win the game, who’s going to be the better quarterback for us this year …
“Everyone knows if you’re No. 1 or No. 2, you’re probably going to play, that’s just how it works.”
What if Mettenberger outplays Mariota in camp and the Titans stick with a plan to start the rookie. Could that cause a locker room issue?
“It might,” Walker said. “But he did get drafted in the first round, second overall. Stuff like that [does] happen. Where the other player was probably better, but we’re giving this player a lot of money so he’s got to play. He’s got to tell us [with his play] like, look, he can’t do it, we’ve got to put in Zach.”
Ultimately, Walker said the other 10 guys on offense have to do better work for whatever quarterback is taking the snaps.
“We get paid to help the quarterbacks look better,” he said. “… I’m just out there catching the passes, whoever is throwing them to me, I’m going to be happy with that …"
“I think they made a good decision, I think it’s just going to make these quarterbacks compete. We’ve still got Zach and I think that’s going to be a competition out there and it’s going to make us look better when two guys are going at it for a starting position.”
