The Tracy Walker rollercoaster at safety for the Detroit Lions has sped back up the hill. He played one of the best games of his career, and certainly his best in at least two seasons, in Detroit’s heartwrenching 19-17 loss in Minnesota in Week 5.
Walker led the Lions with nine tackles and had a hand — literally —in the Alex Anzalone interception with a sweet deflection. Head coach Dan Campbell was quick to sing his praises during Monday’s press conference.
“Well, he certainly made a case yesterday,” Campbell responded when asked if Walker had earned a full-time role. “That’s the Tracy that we know and have been waiting to come out of his shell. I’ll tell you what, he played confident, he played physical, and he communicated well. It was great to see because he did. He played like a top-notch safety yesterday. He was a factor. You felt his presence.”
Walker indeed made his presence felt with a couple of bone-rattling hits to go along with his role in the interception. Pro Football Focus also took notice of Walker’s ascending play.
The fourth-year safety led all Lions with an overall game grade of 88.1. He did so in an expanded role of 56 snaps, the most since Week 2. After a solid performance in Weeks 3 and 4 (82.5 and 72.6 grades, respectively), Walker appears to be regaining the form that made him one of the NFL’s more promising young safeties in 2018 and early 2019.
Hopefully this time he can keep the train on the tracks and not plummet back down the steep hill that was most of his 2019 and 2020 campaigns. The Lions can certainly use him.
