Last week, Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt said that he wished tight end Delanie Walker would have voiced his feelings about “cancers” on the 2013 Titans team to the team rather than airing them publicly.
Two of Walker’s teammates feel the same way. Cornerback Jason McCourty and wide receiver Nate Washington said they have no problem with Walker personally although they felt that their teammates played hard and that Walker should have raised his concerns in a team meeting rather than air them during a radio interview.
“Every single man on that totem pole played hard. Now whether his habits specifically could be the talent to get us over the bar for that day, that’s a totally different story. That’s not a cancer, that’s him still giving his effort,” Washington said, via Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com. “Like J-Mac said, I just wish, as one of those guys that was in that locker room and heard that statement, I wish that initiative would have been taken up by Delanie during the season. We should have had a players meeting. This initiative should have came from him back during the season when these things were going on, if he thought that that was an issue.”
Both men spoke about the reality that 53 players on a roster aren’t always going to be pulling in the same direction, but neither felt that there were players whose attitudes or efforts stood out as a reason for the team’s 7-9 record. McCourty also said that the team “we could probably get some better guys in at certain positions to help us win” and there isn’t likely to be talk about cancers this time next year if the Titans succeed on that front.