# Troy Walters

Troy McHenry Walters (born December 15, 1976) is an American football coach and former player who is the wide receivers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). Walters played as a wide receiver and punt returner in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. Walters played college football for the Stanford Cardinal, earning consensus All-American honors and winning the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the season's outstanding college football receiver. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings, and also played for the Indianapolis Colts, Arizona Cardinals and Detroit Lions of the NFL.

## Early life

Walters was born in Bloomington, Indiana. He attended A&M Consolidated High School in College Station, Texas, and was a letterman in football, basketball and track. In football, as a senior, he was named to the Texas Magazine First-team; he also was a second-team All-Greater Houston selection and a third-team all-state selection.

## College career

After accepting an athletic scholarship to attend Stanford University, Walters played for the Stanford Cardinal football team from 1996 to 1999. As a senior in 1999, he was recognized as consensus first-team All-American and won the Fred Biletnikoff Award. He finished his college career with 244 catches and over 3,900 receiving yards, and currently ranks as Stanford's all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards.

## Professional career

The Minnesota Vikings selected Walters in the fifth round (165th pick overall) of the 2000 NFL draft, and he played for the Vikings from 2000 to 2001. He subsequently played for the Indianapolis Colts (2002–2005), Arizona Cardinals (2006) and Detroit Lions (2007). During his eight-season NFL career, he played in 98 games, compiled 102 receptions for 1,135 yards and nine touchdowns, returned 117 kickoffs for 2,594 yards, and returned 139 punts for 1,241 yards.

## NFL career statistics

Legend :
| Bold | Career high |

### Regular season

| Year | Team | Games | Games | Receiving | Receiving | Receiving | Receiving | Receiving | Receiving |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD |
| 2000 | MIN | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2001 | MIN | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | IND | 16 | 1 | 25 | 18 | 207 | 11.5 | 27 | 0 |
| 2003 | IND | 15 | 4 | 52 | 36 | 456 | 12.7 | 46 | 3 |
| 2004 | IND | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2005 | IND | 16 | 1 | 19 | 14 | 152 | 10.9 | 39 | 3 |
| 2006 | ARI | 15 | 3 | 35 | 23 | 209 | 9.1 | 26 | 2 |
| 2007 | DET | 13 | 0 | 10 | 9 | 101 | 11.2 | 21 | 1 |
| | | 98 | 9 | 143 | 102 | 1,135 | 11.1 | 46 | 9 |

### Playoffs

| Year | Team | Games | Games | Receiving | Receiving | Receiving | Receiving | Receiving | Receiving |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD |
| 2000 | MIN | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 |
| 2002 | IND | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 17 | 0 |
| 2003 | IND | 2 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 31 | 5.2 | 11 | 0 |
| 2004 | IND | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2005 | IND | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| | | 8 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 55 | 6.9 | 17 | 0 |

## Coaching career

Walters joined the staff at Indiana State University as their offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, and wide receivers coach. He then left to become the wide receivers coach at Texas A&M University from 2010 to 2011. He then had stints at North Carolina State University in 2012, and at the University of Colorado Boulder from 2013 to 2015 as a wide receivers coach.
Walters joined Scott Frost's staff at the University of Central Florida as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach in 2016. Walters was a finalist for the Broyles Award, presented to the top assistant coach in college football in December 2017.
Walters followed Frost to Nebraska to become the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach in December 2017. On January 17, 2020, the University of Nebraska and Walters parted ways.
Walters was hired by the Cincinnati Bengals as their assistant wide receivers coach on February 10, 2020. He assumed Bob Bicknell's wide receivers coaching duties for the team's weeks 10 and 11 games in 2020 against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Football Team due to Bicknell missing the games for COVID-19 pandemic protocols.