Darren Waller, a Pro Bowl tight end who surprisingly retired before the 2024 NFL season, is rejoining the league after one year out of football. Waller, who last played for the New York Giants, is being traded to the Miami Dolphins, who have a void at the tight end position after trading away Jonnu Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers on June 30.
Waller was on the Giants’ reserve/retired list because he was still under contract and his rights were owned by New York. The transaction has Waller and a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft being sent to Miami for a 2026 sixth-round selection. Waller had said that he would come out of retirement only to play for the Dolphins, and he gets his wish, with New York agreeing to the deal.
Joining the Dolphins gives Waller the opportunity to play New York’s other team twice a year, possibly a motivator for the tight end because he had the game of his life against the Jets in 2020. Waller went off for 13 receptions for 200 yards and two touchdowns, all either setting or tying career highs.
In his last NFL season in 2023, Waller had 52 receptions for 552 yards and one touchdown over 12 games. Despite missing five games due to a hamstring injury that put him on injured reserve, he still finished second on the team in both catches and receiving yards. He ranked ninth among tight ends in both receptions per game and receiving yards per game.
The Giants thought he would be the missing piece to their team after New York reached the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs the prior season. The Giants acquired Waller from the Las Vegas Raiders for a third-round pick after Waller had established himself as one of the league’s premier tight ends while with the Raiders. Waller spent five years with Oakland/Las Vegas and remains second in franchise history among tight ends in both receptions and receiving yards.
His best seasons came in 2019 and 2020, when he had at least 90 catches and 1,100 receiving yards in each. Over that span, only Travis Kelce had more catches or receiving yards among tight ends. The 2020 season saw Waller make his lone Pro Bowl as he posted career highs of 107 receptions, 1,196 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns. In Miami, he will reunite with offensive coordinator Frank Smith, who was Waller’s position coach when he had his best seasons with the Raiders.
The Miami Dolphins weren’t in need of a tight end until Monday’s blockbuster trade sent Smith to Pittsburgh. However, Smith was arguably the third-most important player in the transaction, as the Steelers and Dolphins also swapped All-Pro defensive backs. Along with Smith going to Pittsburgh, Miami also traded away seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jalen Ramsey, while the Steelers sent five-time Pro Bowl safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to Miami. The teams also swapped 2027 draft picks, with Miami receiving a fifth rounder, while Pittsburgh got a seventh rounder.
Last season, Smith ranked fourth among tight ends in both receptions and yards while ranking second in receiving touchdowns, so the position is clearly an important one in Mike McDaniel’s offense. After trading away Smith, and before landing Waller, Miami had only journeyman players and undrafted free agents on their tight end depth chart.
As for New York’s rationale in dealing away Waller, the Giants receive an unexpected draft choice for a player not expected to suit up for the season. New York has second-year player Theo Johnson atop its tight end depth chart, along with blocking tight end Daniel Bellinger and seventh-round rookie Thomas Fidone.
Waller has had quite the journey to end up in Miami after being a wide receiver in college at Georgia Tech. He was selected in the sixth round of the 2015 draft by the Baltimore Ravens, who played him at receiver for his rookie year before converting the 6-foot-6 pass catcher to tight end for 2016. However, Waller would catch only 12 passes during his three years in Baltimore, as he ran afoul of the league’s substance abuse policy.
Waller was suspended for four games in 2016 for violating the policy, then suspended for the entire 2017 season for another violation. He was waived by the Ravens during the 2018 season and signed with the Raiders, who were still in Oakland at the time. After spending most of that year on the practice squad and playing just four games, he finally broke out with the Raiders in 2019 and finished third in Comeback Player of the Year voting.
In 2020, he founded the Darren Waller Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to “equip youth to avoid and overcome addiction to drugs and alcohol and to support youth and their families during their recovery and treatment journey.”
