Erik Lashawn Walden (born August 21, 1985) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and was selected by the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

in the sixth round of the

2008 NFL draft The 2008 NFL draft was the 73rd NFL draft, annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York (state), New York ...

. He was also a member of the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

, and

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

. With the Packers, he won

Super Bowl XLV Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

in 2010.

Early life

Walden attended Dublin High School where he practiced

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and track. In football, he played as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

and

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

. In basketball, he received All-state honors as a junior and senior. He moved on to

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a Public university, public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges as ...

and became a four-year starter at

. As a junior, he was an All-Sun Belt Conference selection. Against

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the United States, U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said t ...

in the 2006 Motor City Bowl he led his team with six tackles and two quarterback sacks. Walden was injured most of his senior season, which limited his effectiveness, but was still named All-

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...

, after finishing second in conference history in career sacks. He ended his college career after playing in 44 games (34 starts) with 152 tackles (40 for loss), 22.5 sacks, 5 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 4 passes defensed and one interception. He owns the school's career (22.5) and season (11.5) sack records.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Walden was selected in the sixth round (167th overall) of the

by the

. He was waived on August 30 during final cuts.

Kansas City Chiefs

A day after being let go by the Cowboys, hoping he would clear waivers and enabling them to sign him to their

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

, he was claimed off waivers by the

on August 31,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. He played in 9 games, making 10

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their position. Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

tackles and was released on November 18.

Miami Dolphins

He was claimed off waivers by the

on November 20,

. He played in 6 games and recorded 5

tackles. The next year, he was inactive for 5 games and finished with 8

tackles. He was waived on September 9,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Green Bay Packers

Walden was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

by the

on October 27,

, because they were experiencing several injuries on the defensive side. In just his second career start he had a breakout game and was named NFC Defensive Player of the week, after playing against the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

, while leading the team with 16 tackles and 2 sacks. He was declared inactive in

because of an ankle injury, although he made an impact in each of the first three games of the Packers' championship run, including a forced fumble, two quarterback hits and nine tackles. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, he became a full-time starter (15 starts) for the first time in his career and posted 86 tackles (50 solo), 3 sacks, 2 passes defensed and a fumble recovery that he returned for his first career

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. The next year his starts were reduced to 9 games after the Packers drafted Nick Perry. He finished with 69 tackles (38 solo), 3 sacks, 4 passes defensed and his first 2 career interceptions.

Indianapolis Colts

On March 12, 2013, Walden signed a four year, $16 million contract with the

. In Week 11 against the

, he pulled Delanie Walker's helmet off and head-butted him, which resulted in a penalty for unnecessary roughness and a one-game suspension. He finished the season with 15 starts, 58 tackles (33 solo), 3 sacks, 3 passes defensed, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. In

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, Walden set a then career-high in sacks with 6, while also recording 57 tackles (40 solo) and one forced fumble in 15 games (14 starts). The next year, he started 15 games, posting 3 sacks and one forced fumble. The next year, he started 15 games at

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

, posting 57 tackles (9 for loss), 3 sacks, one forced fumble and 12 quarterback hits. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, Walden started 16 games at

and had a career year, setting a new career-high in sacks with 11, while making 42 tackles (9 for loss), 3 forced fumbles and 17 quarterback hits.

Tennessee Titans

On July 28, 2017, Walden signed with the

. He was a backup at

behind Brian Orakpo and Derrick Morgan. On September 17, 2017, in Week 2, Walden recovered a Blake Bortles fumble in a 37–16 victory over the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

. Walden finished the 2017 season with 36 tackles, four sacks, and four tackles for loss. He wasn't re-signed after the season.

Seattle Seahawks

On August 17, 2018, Walden signed with the

. He was placed on injured reserve on September 1, 2018, and later released with an injury settlement.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Personal life

Walden has two children with an ex-girlfriend, Erica Palmer. On November 25, 2011, he was arrested for an alleged physical altercation that sent Palmer to the hospital. Police stated they had enough evidence to hold him under felony charges through Monday, as his case could not be processed over the

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

weekend. Charges were later dropped, and Walden was not suspended by the league. On March 19, 2015, it was reported that Walden and an unnamed female companion had been attacked by Palmer. She allegedly confronted Walden at his

Braselton, Georgia Braselton ( ) is a town in Jackson County, Georgia, Jackson, Barrow County, Georgia, Barrow, Gwinnett County, Georgia, Gwinnett, and Hall County, Georgia, Hall counties in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, approximately northeast o ...

home with a gun and a baseball bat, and while he was able to take the gun from her, Palmer used the bat to break the arm of the unnamed woman. Palmer then fled, but returned to attack Walden, slashing his arm with a knife. Palmer was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated assault, family violence aggravated assault, theft by taking, and first-degree burglary. Walden was inducted into the Middle Tennessee State University Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.

References

External links

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders bio

Tennessee Titans bio

Green Bay Packers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walden, Erik 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Dublin, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football defensive ends American football linebackers Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football players Dallas Cowboys players Kansas City Chiefs players Miami Dolphins players Green Bay Packers players Indianapolis Colts players Tennessee Titans players Seattle Seahawks players