Walker Down with Injury

[TEXANS84]

Starting DE leaves practice, undergoes MRI on his groin
By CARLTON THOMPSON
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle


The Texans got a bit of a scare Monday when two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Gary Walker went down with a groin injury during the team portion of the indoor workout.

Walker had to be helped off the field by trainers, and he was examined on the field before leaving practice early. The 31-year-old defensive end underwent an MRI exam Monday evening, but the results were not immediately available.

"Gary had a little tightness in his groin, so they took him in to check it out," Texans coach Dom Capers said. "It was just out here in team. He turned and cut, and it tightened up on him."

Walker is coming off a frustrating 2003 season during which he injured his shoulder during the preseason and missed 12 regular-season games because of the shoulder injury and a severe case of turf toe.

Prior to last season, Walker had missed two games in seven seasons. If Walker can't play against Denver Friday, either Jerry Deloach or Corey Sears will start at left defensive end.

There's a chance nose tackle Seth Payne, who is recovering from knee surgery, will play against the Broncos.

If Payne doesn't start at Denver, Deloach will make his third consecutive start at nose tackle, making Sears the obvious choice at left defensive end if Walker can't play.

This is kinda scary...I'd hate to see one of the strong 3 go down...even when we are hoping Seth is ready to go on September 12th.
Article from the HoustonChronicle.com

[rittenhouserobz]

Originally Posted by TEXAN84

This is kinda scary...I'd hate to see one of the strong 3 go down...even when we are hoping Seth is ready to go on September 12th.
Article from the HoustonChronicle.com

At least we are breaking in the rookies. This look is close to last year. There is no doubt that we draft more DL next year.

[aj.]

31 years old - about the time for a 300 lb DL to start showing signs of breaking down, maybe?

But then there's the minor detail of the 11 million signing bonus and 6 year, 37 million deal he was signed to in March.

This may turn out to be minor (hopefully it is) but a lot of people thought they overpaid Wade. I thought they overpaid Walker.

Cha-ching

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by aj.

.

This may turn out to be minor (hopefully it is) but a lot of people thought they overpaid Wade. I thought they overpaid Walker.

Cha-ching

I thought we overpaid for both of them. And if we hadn't traded our 2, 3, &
4 we could have picked up Randy Starks with the 3. He might come in handy
right about now.

[aj.]

...and we wouldn't have Babin and we wouldn't be looking so good at OLB either.

Me no comprende hindsight. No one knows if Starks is going to amount to anything special either.

I'm glad as hell we got G-Funk but all my point is that they paid top dollar (with a lot of future risk) to keep a 31 year old who missed most of last season. There was no reason to believe he wouldn't be healthy this year but he's getting to that age where the big dudes start breaking down. They will need at least 2-3 high performance years out of Gary to get the value back out of that contract.

[rittenhouserobz]

Originally Posted by aj.

...and we wouldn't have Babin and we wouldn't be looking so good at OLB either.

Me no comprende hindsight. No one knows if Starks is going to amount to anything special either.

I'm glad as hell we got G-Funk but all my point is that they paid top dollar (with a lot of future risk) to keep a 31 year old who missed most of last season. There was no reason to believe he wouldn't be healthy this year but he's getting to that age where the big dudes start breaking down. They will need at least 2-3 high performance years out of Gary to get the value back out of that contract.

Gary Walker's value is not just based on physical presence. He has leadership ability and experience. Not to mention he was pro-bowl player. I am sure he wants to healthy.

[El Tejano]

We don't need this right now. Please God!!

[Lucky]

Originally Posted by aj.

...They will need at least 2-3 high performance years out of Gary to get the value back out of that contract.

You're saying that in essence the Texans signed Walker to a 3 year, $18 million contract. If you think it's a bad deal, who else would you prefer the Texans had signed? They had to have a starting LDE, right?

Citing the $37 million 6 year deal doesn't make sense when you know that Gary will never see the $19 million in salary in the final 3 years of the contract. If not Walker, then who & how much?

[aj.]

Gary Walker's value is not just based on physical presence. He has leadership ability and experience. Not to mention he was pro-bowl player. I am sure he wants to healthy.

I'm sure he wants to be healthy too, just like everyone wants him to be. You are also correct that he was a Pro Bowl player in 2002. This is 2004 and I'm talking about 2004, 2005, and 2006...

Being an experienced leader only goes so far when you can't get on the field. They don't pay guys top NFL salaries to stand on the sideline and clap and offer encouragement to younger players. They need 2 or 3 high quality years out of the guy (on the field -- 30 to 40 games worth) to get the value out of that contract.