Delanie Walker just said what 31 NFL teams are probably thinking.
Walker, the Tennessee Titans' veteran tight end, didn't hold back Monday when asked about the Cleveland Browns, the team that has garnered a slew of headlines during the offseason. Many in the media are not only predicting the Browns -- who will start the regular season against Walker's Titans Sunday in Cleveland -- to win their first division title in 30 years, some think that Cleveland will actually represent the AFC in Super Bowl LIV.
"That's the NFL," Walker said of the hype surrounding the Browns, per May Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. "They like to pick the team they assume is going to be Super Bowl champs because they've got guys on that team that I guess they can turn a whole organization around, just two or three guys — but hey that's how it goes.
Does it bother him that the Browns are garnering this much attention?
"I like that they get the hype," Walker said. "You've just got to go in there and play football, you know what I mean?"
Walker's Titans are the exact opposite of the Browns from a media attention standpoint. Despite three consecutive winning seasons entering the 2019 regular season, Tennessee has not received much national attention. Many in the media are picking the Jacksonville Jaguars to win the AFC South instead of Tennessee and the Indianapolis Colts heading int Week 1.
"The Tennessee Titans have always been under the radar. What's new?" Walker told reporters. "So I expect them to talk about Cleveland Browns, Cleveland this, Cleveland that, we're going to go in there and play football. As a group, we've just got to handle the noise and play our game."
Handling the noise. That's been what the Browns have tried to do this offseason while creating some noise of their own. From quarterback Baker Mayfield and Odell Beckham Jr.'s criticism of the New York Giants to rookie cornerback Greedy Williams' Super Bowl guarantee to former assistant coach Bob Wylie's criticism of head coach Freddie Kitchens to Kitchen's response and threat to fire any staffer who is caught leaking information, things have been anything but quiet in Cleveland this offseason.
Despite the noise, Kitchens reassured everyone that the Browns will not crack under the pressure.
"I can take it," Kitchens said during training camp when discussing the pressure surrounding himself and his team. "John Dorsey (the Browns' general manager) can take it. We won't crack, I promise you."
It doesn't appear that Mayfield, Beckham and the rest of Kitchen's players are afraid of cracking in 2019, either. Despite hype and media attention surrounding him and his teammates them, Mayfield hasn't shied away from embracing the expectations surrounding them this season.
"I believe in myself," Mayfield said in his now infamous interview with GQ. "Some people think that's cocky, but if you don't believe you're any good, then I don't think you're gonna have any success. If you go out there thinking you're gonna fail, you're gonna fail. Which is just the truth."
