Ko Olina, Hawaii – All last season, Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey would physically cover his teammate, receiver Javon Walker, in practice.
In the initial days of the offseason, Bailey felt that as a friend, he had to hang with Walker emotionally.
Just hours after the Broncos’ 2006 season ended with a New Year’s Eve loss at home to San Francisco, cornerback Darrent Williams was shot dead in Denver while riding in a limousine.
Several team sources say Walker was riding on the same limo bench when a stricken Williams slumped in his lap.
Bailey helped the distraught Walker during those first days after Williams’ murder, deciding at one point on a quick trip to Las Vegas.
“I’m still talking to him and he’s doing a lot better,” Bailey said Tuesday after the AFC team’s workout for the Pro Bowl game that will be played Saturday in Honolulu. “I mean, I’m not a psychologist or anything, but being a friend of his and being around him a lot, he seems to be OK.”
Walker was one of the few Denver players who did not attend Williams’ funeral Jan. 6 in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I think it was how Javon felt at the moment,” Bailey said. “It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be there for Darrent. But I try not to look too much into it. Let someone with a professional background look into that.”
