You Have To Question the Darren Waller Trade

Originally posted on Dolphins Talk | By Brian Marr | Last updated Sep 5, 2025 11:08 PM ET

You Have To Question the Darren Waller Trade

A surprising addition to the Jalen Ramsey trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason was that of tight end Jonnu Smith. Smith was coming off a career year with the Dolphins; his 2024 stat line reads 88 receptions for 884 yards and eight touchdowns. A team record-breaking performance from a man who seemed poised to remain a large part of Miami’s offense.

Unfortunately, that would not come to be as news broke that the Pro Bowler wanted a raise based on his performance last season and was quickly packaged alongside Ramsey and sent to the Steelers. In an effort to replace Smith, the team traded for retired tight end Darren Waller, who had missed most of the offseason recovering from an injury before being named the starting tight end ahead of the Dolphins’ first game of the season against the Colts.

The move was questionable to start. Waller was once a premier tight end while on the Raiders, but his last season over 1,000 yards receiving came all the way back in 2020.

Fans still held out hope that he could return to form, perhaps under the tutelage of his former tight ends coach and current Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith, the 32-year-old Waller could return to form.

That hope took a hit when he appeared on the injury report this week, and another when head coach Mike McDaniel confirmed that Waller suffered a setback and will likely miss the opener.

“We had already planned not to practice him anyway — something that we didn’t know what it was until what it was,” McDaniel said per ProFootballTalk. “But we were planning for setback prevention. And he had a setback.”

While it may only keep Waller out for a week, Dolphins fans are already panicking about his health moving forward. There have been many comparisons to the likes of Odell Beckham Jr. and Will Fuller, offseason signings from years past who, like Waller, have dealt with injuries previously and, as such, presented a riskier move by General Manager Chris Grier.

Fuller played in just two games for the club in 2021, notching four receptions for 26 yards before being lost for the season and not returning to the league since. Beckham played in 9 games last season but had only nine receptions for 55 yards before requesting his release. Like Fuller, he has yet to find a landing spot.

In all three cases, there has been an element of lying by omission that has left the fandom feeling burned. Each week, we wondered if our new addition would suit up and were met with unclear and noncommittal answers, usually resulting in the player missing the week.

We’ll have to wait and see if this will be more of the same with Waller, but it is off to an auspicious start. We’ll have to hope that Julian Hill and Tanner Conner can provide adequate play in Waller’s absence, though, based on past performance, it feels unlikely that they’ll present the same kind of passing threat as Smith did last season.

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

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