It began as a heartwarming story about perseverance and the human condition. Who didn’t root for Darren Waller coming out of retirement at 33 to attempt a career restart with the Miami Dolphins?
Here was a story about a player who had beat back some personal demons in a manner to appreciate as much as him possibly helping the Dolphins’ void at tight end. Every team could use a story of hope like him, right?
It didn’t even matter much when Waller didn’t practice in July’s training camp. Your eyebrow raised a smidge, sure, considering you’d think a player who missed a year needed to work off some rust, if not impress his new team.
When Waller still didn’t play through August’s preseason, the story became more of an uncertain question. But what made it cross the line to odd was when the initial depth chart came out and he was listed as the No. 1 tight end despite not practicing.
Maybe it was just a message to the other tight ends to pick up their game. That happens around pro teams. It’s not like any of the other tight ends have a proven portfolio.
But it all hardened into business when Waller made the 53-man roster despite still not putting on pads. That was a sign the Dolphins were investing in an aging player who hadn’t practiced in over a year — and hadn’t impressed his final season with the New York Giants when he could play. He was taking the place of another possible player, too.
Did the Dolphins fear if Waller was released another team would claim him before he could be signed back to the practice squad? Did they think he was better than any of their tight ends actually practicing every day?
There was no setback in his health to keep him off the field, coach Mike McDaniel kept saying. They were just bringing him back slow, which was just “smart, because we want him available for 17 games rather than come out here and prove something in preseason and then he pulls or gets hurt and then he’s out for a while,’’ general manager Chris Grier said last week. “So this is us about managing him to get him ready for Week 1.”
Week 1’s injury report came and said Waller missed Wednesday and Thursday’s practices with a hip injury. Maybe it just happened. But on the edge of the opener the heartwarming story has turned into a headscratcher that was reflecting on some decision-making beyond just the tight end position.
In a year where so much was made of a transformed culture, when working harder and staying after practice were themes of the summer as Grier and McDaniel talk, the Dolphins keep counting on a player who has never gone through a full practice.
“The intentionality of bringing Darren here was real, but we’re also working through the process of playing good football, not depending on Darren,’’ McDaniel said on Wednesday. “So what does that mean?
“That means just like the situation with Tyreek Hill where him not being on the field allows for other evaluation and growth of the team, although you don’t perceive it immediately as ideal, there’s good residuals, and Darren is the exact same way.”
Hmm. Hill has played with the Dolphins for three years at an elite level. No one doubts his ability as one of the game’s top receivers. And Waller is considered the “exact same way,” even though no one’s seen him so much as practice after a year of retirement?
Waller sure looks the part at 6-foot-6 and 255 chiseled pounds. He sounds great when he talks. He shares his full story of an addiction starting with Oxycontin at 15 to cocaine as an NFL player until a rehab stint in 2018 set him free. He returned to the NFL, broke out with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020 and for a few years became one of the league’s top tight ends.
Now, who is he as a football player? The question really is how much the Grier and McDaniel counted on him. Because it sure seemed like they saw him as the starter when you look back from the start of summer right through this week. Not a bonus. Not a good veteran. The starter?
The position that opened when Jonnu Smith and his 88 catches last year were traded to Pittsburgh looks down to Julian Hill and Tanner Conner on Sunday. McDaniel’s offense doesn’t value tight ends too much, as we’ve seen and the Smith trade says. But don’t you need one to play?
You still root for Waller. How can you not? Wouldn’t it be great if he found his health and recaptured his youthful days as an impactful player?
But you also wonder how the Dolphins got in the situation of investing in an aging veteran who doesn’t practice, of having a tight end coming out of retirement handed a position he couldn’t take, of entering a season crossing your fingers he becomes as good a story on the field as he is off it.
