Tracy Walker made the decision to re-sign with the Lions based on the current regime, and a story about his rookie season proves why.
Tracy Walker had a resurgent season last year, no doubt positively impacted by a new regime with the Detroit Lions. He has openly said his decision to re-sign this offseason was not driven purely by money, though it’s safe to say a three-year, $25 million deal worked just fine for him.
Walker was a third-round pick by the Lions in 2018, which now makes him one of the longest-tenured players on the team. That year is also known as the first year of the Matt Patricia era as head coach in Detroit.
We’ve seen the rookie skits put on by Aidan Hutchinson and Malcolm Rodriguez this year, thanks mostly to “Hard Knocks”. Walker reflected on his own rookie skit during an appearance with the Stoney and Jansen Show on 97.1 The Ticket Thursday.
Tracy Walker has most quintessential Matt Patricia story ever
Patricia thought himself to be the smartest man in the room during his time as Lions’ head coach. He pulled no punches to criticize a media member for their lack of what he thought should be professional posture during a press conference, while often showing up to such things looking like he had picked through his laundry hamper.
So Walker’s story about his rookie skit(s) is hardly surprising.
"I had to do three skits. My first skit, we clowned on the coaches and they didn’t like that very much. Oh man, it was bad. We had to wake up at 5:00 the next morning and redo that skit, made up another play and everybody laughed, but it still wasn’t what they wanted because we weren’t acting, so I had to do another skit.”"
How dare the incoming rookies poke fun at the then-new Lions coaching staff? Only someone as overtly insecure as Patricia proved to be would take offense, and then render a “punishment.”
Walker naturally wanted to pivot away from talking about the previous regime, while acknowledging he would not have come back if Patricia and former general manager Bob Quinn had remained in place. He used the word legacy even, in terms of wanting to build his with the Lions.