Getty Tracy Walker celebrates his interception.
The Detroit Lions sustained an injury they could ill-afford to on Sunday when safety Tracy Walker left the game with a knee injury in the second half.
Walker’s return at the time was called questionable, and quickly, he was ruled out for the rest of the game. Afterward, the Lions had no updates on his status, and the word is the team is still waiting to see what the outcome of further testing is as it relates to the knee injury.
Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press referred to the injury as “potentially serious,” but said that mum has been the word in terms of what the actual outcome is to this point. Here’s what he wrote:
“The Lions initially called Walker questionable return, but quickly ruled him out.
Lions coach Matt Patricia said Walker will be re-evaluated on Monday, and that he did not know how serious the injury was.
“I mean, I saw Tracy briefly as I was kind of making my rounds,” Patricia said. “He said he’s fine and we’ll figure it out tomorrow. I said, ‘Cool.’ He brought the team up after and everything like that. We’ll look at it tomorrow from that standpoint.”
Detroit doesn’t want to ponder life without Walker for an extended period given how well the team has played with the youngster in the mix, but they may have no choice but to do so, especially if the injury is serious.
As for how it happened, it was a case of friendly fire with Walker crashing into a teammate on a touchdown play in the second half.
Walker Breaks Down Huddle
After the game, as Patricia noted, Walker was indeed standing on both legs as he broke down the team’s postgame victory scrum with a brief speech after Patricia spoke to the team.
“Great job. Great effort!”
Go inside today’s locker room celebration. #OnePride
“Hey hell of a win today man, that’s the way to keep fighting. We just got to continue to build on this week and continue to improve,” Walker said to the team in the aftermath of the big win.
When the Lions traded fellow safety Quandre Diggs last week, they dealt a team captain, but it’s more than possible the team envisions Walker in that vocal role moving forward given they gave him postgame speaking duties just a handful of days after the Diggs move was made.
Indeed, Walker was a big reason the team moved on from Diggs in the first place. They drafted the safety just two short years ago and have big plans for him in the team’s defense along with Will Harris, creating a situation that prior to the injury spoke to the team’s depth.
Who’s Next
If Walker is indeed felled by the knee injury for a long time, the Lions would have veteran Tavon Wilson ready to step in, in addition to Miles Killebrew. Killebrew saw some snaps for the Lions after Walker exited Sunday’s game, and the anticipation would be those players would be quickly inserted. Detroit also has the rookie Harris, in addition to C.J. Moore at the spot in order to get snaps. They could bring back veteran Marcus Gilchrist, who was released over the weekend in order to add linebacker Steve Longa back to the mix.
Obviously, the hope is that Walker is healthy enough to remain a factor in 2019, but if there is indeed trouble, the Lions will at least have options on the roster.