The Time is Now for Tanner Conner

2025 will be Tanner Conner‘s fourth year with the Dolphins’ organization after he was added as an undrafted free agent in 2022.

While Conner has shown promise during off-season work and in training camp, he only has three career receptions in 24 games.

Yes, in that time, Miami has had some strong, tight end play with Mike Gesicki and Jonnu Smith, the latter of which just had arguably the best season by a tight end in team history.

However, those two players are both gone, as Smith was traded last week to the Steelers.

With a clear need for a pass-catcher at the tight end position in Miami, it is now or never for Conner.

This off-season, his competition will be the newly added Darren Waller.

While Waller is more accomplished than Conner, Waller also has not played football in over a year and will be 33 years old by the time the season starts, which is six years older than Conner.

Waller’s contract is also incentive-laden, which means that cutting him will not be that hard should he not be able to find the form that he once had.

Additionally, the other tight ends on the roster are more known for their blocking abilities, as seen in Pharoah Brown and Julian Hill.

Miami also has some promising younger tight ends in Jalin Conyers, but he, like Conner, was undrafted, so it may take him a while to catch up to speed.