Dolphins Make Outside of the Box Trade Acquiring Darren Waller

The addition of Waller seemingly fills the massive shoes left in the Tight End room by Jonnu Smith after being traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday morning. In his prime, Darren Waller was considered one of the League’s most physically gifted and athletic tight ends. Unfortunately, the key phrase in that sentence is “in his prime”.

During his nine-year NFL career, Darren Waller had only recorded two 1,000+ receiving-yard seasons. Those years were 2019 and 2020, and Waller would go on to be selected for the Pro Bowl in 2020. Following those breakout seasons, Waller’s availability was extremely limited, missing five, nine, and five games over his final three seasons due to injury. These weren’t minor tweaks either, as Waller suffered IT band strains, Back injuries, hamstring injuries, and groin injuries over that time frame.

Darren Waller would go on to retire from the NFL following the 2023 season and begin a less-than-promising career as a rapper.

A worrisome stat that I found while researching this piece was ‘over his nine year NFL Career, Darren Waller missed 17 games due to hamstring injuries.’ 

While it should serve as no surprise that Darren Waller can be an absolute baller while on the field, trends have shown that he’ll spend more time on the training table or in the blue tent than being productive. With that being said, Waller comes to Miami and will fight for playing time and could win the starting job if he finds his old form. At worst, he can provide some form of reliable upside.

Do I think Waller is going to sniff the 1,000-yard seasons of the past? No, but I