According to the Houston Texans’ official website, Darius Walker was released Monday a week before training camps around the the NFL are set to open.
Walker originally was set to sign with the Bears after not being selected in April’s draft, but ended up signing with the Texans who also brought in free agent running back Ahman Green this off-season to compete with Domanick Davis who missed all of 2006 due to injury.
Monday’s news is just another set back for the former Notre Dame running back who left Notre Dame after his junior year to pursue an NFL career. Unfortunately for Walker, things haven’t gone too well for him. Had he come back to Notre Dame for his senior season, he would have challenged for the all time rushing record currently held by Autry Denson.
Walker will have a week to shop around and find a team before camps begin across the league next week.
frank,
1. according to yahoo nfl news, the houston texans have signed darius walker after the rb they thought they were going to take ahead of him seriously injured himself by playing recklessly, instead of with intelligence.
2. yes, darius does not have blazing speed and never did, although he sure was never slow.
3. neither did emmitt smith or many successful nfl rbs.
4.among the special qualities that darius brings to the nfl are a high level of intelligence, a lot of talent, dedication and hard work, and integrity, the same qualities that allowed him to perform at such a high level at nd when nd really had only one rb and a questionable oline which had to focus on pass protection, instead of opening holes for darius.
5. darius can catch those bubble screens and make something out of them. he can understand and execute those complex plays that guys like lendale white could not understand in a million years.
6. unlike that con artist reggie bush, who will take his illgotten gains and retire after his 1st injury, darius will be around the nfl for years and will, unlike bush, be a fine role model for our children and grandchildren.
7. give darius the right oline and offensive scheme and he will do better than emmitt smith and be around log after reggie bush is forgotten or hauled before a federal court for the con jobs he pulled on college football and on the companies that were stupid enough to pay him endorsememt money.
8. there is no place in the nfl for people like reggie bush and michael vick. vick’s sponsors have already pulled out. bush’s will follow when his coverup is blown. after all, yahoo sports left no doubt about how reggie bush had cheated and conned the public while he was at usc. where a corrupt and toothless ncaa has failed to act, the fbi will. they were not deterred by vick’s fame and fortune. unlike the ncaa, they do have subpoena power to force bush’s victims in san diego and bush and others to testify under oath. they cannot use those keep quiet agreements purchased by bush.
9.as for darius, he has a very good shot at a fine nfl career and intelligence and a fine education to fall back on if the nfl should not work out, unlike 90% of the rbs who play in college and the nfl.
erin go braugh and schlanta,
bob gilleran
Darius was a good college back, which are a dime a dozen. He had good skills, not great, but he lacked that “something special”. He was not physical, was not fast and was not terribly elusive. He ran out of bounds as a matter of course. What about that combo makes anyone think he can make it in the NFL?
frank,
1. i have every confidence that a number of nfl teams with intelligence will sign darius and that darius will have a fine career in the nfl if he wants one.
2. i still think that darius made the correct decision about not playing at nd another year. he was not going to get faster or learn any new skills. if the nfl values breakaway speed over the intelligent and productive play that darius demonstrated at nd starting as a freshman, then the teams that passed him up will not win the games and championships that they would with darius.
3. as we know, darius is independently wealthy and highly intelligent with a fine education from notre dame, something that the dumb jocks at other schools, like lendale white, do not get. darius can always make a fortune in the advertising and sports marketing businesses if the nfl is not wise enough to recognize that an rb like darius, with his intelligence and understanding of the game, is worth infinitely more to any team than a dumb jock, with no real education, like lendale white or a crook with only athletic talent like reggie bush, who will pack up his gear and ill gotten money when he goes down with his 1st injury.
the coverup might work with the ncaa, but yahoo sports really got the goods on reggie and published them online. of course, reggie would not want to sue me either because that would permit me to question him and his parents and the others that he has paid off to keep quiet under oath. the ncaa does not have subpoena power, but i do.
4. we will always remember what darius did for nd when nd football was on life support and we know that he will do well in life with or without the nfl.
5. to the extent that certain people in the nfl want an rb to sacrifice his physical and mental well being blindly for the team, they know that darius is much too intelligent to accept a role like that.
thanks for keeping us up to date and our very best to darius and his family,
bob gilleran
I say that he should try the Philadelphia Eagles or the Indianapolis Colts.