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This Darren Waller Situation Continues to Be Very Confusing

Originally posted on Dolphins Talk | By Mike Oliva | Last updated Sep 4, 2025 9:51 PM ET

This Darren Waller Situation Continues to be Very Confusing

When the Miami Dolphins traded for tight end Darren Waller a few months back, Dolphins fans were scratching their heads.

He was out of the league last year and retired.

He retired to focus on his rap career.

He said he would “only” come back to the NFL to play for the Dolphins.

Yes, this was shortly after Miami traded away Jonnu Smith, so the need for a tight end was there.

And Waller, before retiring, was a decent tight end who made plays in the passing game.

But still, he was retired, and you had to trade for him, late round pick or not; something seemed fishy.

A few red flags here, and it wasn’t adding up.

The Dolphins came out and said Don’t worry, he will be fine.

Waller’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said Don’t worry, he will be fine.

Waller then started training camp on PUP, again a red flag.

Rosenhaus went on TV and calmed people down again, saying Don’t worry.

Mike McDaniel spoke to the media and said, Waller isn’t hurt, we just want to bring him back slowly.

Again, it wasn’t adding up.

More red flags.

So he isn’t hurt but on PUP, ok, I guess.

Then they take him off of PUP, but he wasn’t participating in practice each day.

Again, more red flags.

Then McDaniel said they didn’t want Waller’s first practice back to be in a joint practice.

This week, it was revealed that Miami hasn’t allowed Waller to practice more than three consecutive days.

Yesterday, the first injury report was released.

And Darren Waller is listed as having a hip injury.

And Mike McDaniel, when speaking to the press, says, Well, Waller won’t practice today (Wednesday), but should be good to go on Thursday.

And Waller then didn’t practice on Thursday.

Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

Waller isn’t healthy.

Waller isn’t ready for the start of the season.

And this smells a lot like the Odell Beckham Jr situation from 2024.

You sign an older guy with some injury, don’t tell anyone, downplay it for weeks and months, and then at the last minute, he isn’t ready.

Will Waller play this weekend vs Indy?

Who the hell knows? Your guess is as good as mine.

And no Dolphins fan wants to hear the “it’s low risk, high reward, so no big deal if this doesn’t work out.”

That’s ten pounds of crap in a five-pound bag.

Chris Grier makes moves like this all the time, and they never pan out.

NEVER!

He had an entire draft to address the tight end situation (knowing that Jonnu wanted a new deal and he wasn’t going to give it to him). He did nothing.

He had free agency to address the tight end situation. He did nothing

He had all summer with the last few unsigned guys (ie, Noah Fant) out there to bring in that at least is healthy and can play. He did nothing.

Now, it’s the brink of Week 1, and Waller is hurt, and Miami’s tight end room doesn’t even have the guy coming out of retirement it was banking on to help them replace some of the production they lost with Jonnu Smith.

This is how you go 25 years as an organization without winning a playoff game.

This is why Miami has arguably the worst general manager in all of football.

This article first appeared on Dolphins Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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