Dolphins Officially Trade For Giants TE Darren Waller

Waller will sign an adjusted, incentive-heavy deal to facilitate the trade to Miami, as he’d previously been scheduled to make several million before retiring last summer. 

Reports indicated the Dolphins wanted to find a replacement for TE Jonnu Smith after trading him to the Steelers yesterday and they’ve landed on a creative solution. 

Waller left football after some injury-plagued years to focus on his rap career. He had a persistent hamstring injury that nagged at him for a while. 

Waller, 32, is a former sixth-round pick of the Ravens. He was in the third year of his four-year, $2.39 million rookie contract when Baltimore waived him coming out of the preseason and later signed him to their practice squad.

The Raiders signed him off the Ravens’ practice squad in 2018 and later locked him up to a three-year extension worth around $9 million per year. He was set to make base salaries of $6.25 million in each of the final two years of his deal when he agreed to a three-year, $51 million contract extension with the Raiders last year. 

The Giants acquired Waller in a trade with the Raiders in 2023 for a third-round compensatory pick. After one season in New York, he decided to retire going into 2024. 

In 2023, Waller appeared in 12 games and recorded 52 receptions for 552 yards (10.6 YPC) and one touchdown. 

In his eight seasons, Waller played for the Ravens, Raiders, and Giants. He caught 350 passes for 4,124 yards (11.8 YPC) and 20 touchdowns.