Blue
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2019
- 2,079
- 0
» Walker compares new safety Tavon Wilson to a key defensive leader on the 2018 team: Wilson signed a free agent deal with the Colts one week ago, but he's already making quite the impression on his teammates.
He comes in already one of the most experienced players on the unit, with his 110 career games played; in his time with the Detroit Lions (2016-19) and New England Patriots (2012-15), Wilson has recorded 331 tackles (255 solo), 16.0 tackles for loss, 5.0 sacks, 19 passes defensed, eight interceptions (one returned for a touchdown), one forced fumble, six fumble recoveries and 26 special teams stops.
Walker said Wilson reminds him a lot of safety Mike Mitchell, who was a midseason pickup by the Colts in the 2018 season and was credited with bringing a much-needed veteran presence to the secondary, helping the unit play much better overall during Indy's run to the postseason that year.
Wilson already has a couple picks in practice, and has been a resource for the younger players, too.
"(Wilson is) a savvy veteran, a guy who understands the game to the smallest detail," Walker said. "Definitely happy to have him in our locker room right now. A lot of the young guys are learning from him, but he's a playmaker as well."
» Walker loves the competitive back-and-forth with Rivers: Rivers has been known to get under the defense's skin from time to time throughout his lengthy NFL career, but now that he's in Indy, while he's had his fun with the defense from time to time, Walker has appreciated Rivers' day-to-day approach.
"One thing I like (is Rivers) comes over before every team period at the beginning of practice – at the beginning of the first team period – and me and Darius (Leonard) are doing our handshake. He comes over, he does his handshake with Darius and does his handshake with me," Walker said. "So we understand that we're teammates first. This is great competition and everything like that, but we're trying to get each other better so we can go out there and execute on Sundays."
That being said, there are still some competitive moments between No. 17 and No. 54.
"We've had walk-thru battles," Walker said with a smile. "Going live in practice or whatever it is, me and him have our little trash-talk. We just give each other the eye like, 'You got us on that one, or I got you on that one.' It's always fun to see us go back and forth with each other."