Tracy Walker injury ‘doesn’t look real good,’ could be Achilles

In the first quarter of the Detroit Lions Week 3 game against the Minnesota Vikings, safety Tracy Walker suffered an injury that was announced as an ankle injury. After being helped off the field, Walker would end up taking a cart ride to the locker room, where he was quickly declared out for the remainder of the game.

After the contest, coach Dan Campbell provided an update, and he brought up a word you never want to hear with an injury: Achilles.

“We’ll know more in the morning,” Campbell said. “It doesn’t look real good, but, obviously, it’s the ankle area, possibly it could be the Achilles. We’ll see. We’ll know more tomorrow.”

Obviously, every situation is different, but this response is almost word-for-word what Campbell said about Jeff Okudah after last season’s season opener. Okudah, as we would later find out, suffered a torn Achilles, ending his sophomore season in the NFL. Here’s exactly what Campbell said after that game about Okudah.

“We’re checking him out now. We know obviously it’s somewhere around the ankle, could be Achilles. We’ll know a lot more this afternoon, hopefully, or tomorrow morning.”

If that’s what it turns out to be for Walker, his season is almost certainly over, which is a really tough blow to this Lions defense. Walker had been playing quite well as the main communicator of the Lions defense, and he was declared captain for the first time in his career just a few weeks prior. Even worse for Walker, this was supposed to be an extremely happy weekend for the Lions safety, as his wife gave birth to their child just a day or two ago.

Hopefully, we get some good news on Monday, but it’s probably time to start preparing for the worst.