Miami Dolphins tight end Darren Waller continues to shed retirement rust as we plow toward the start of the 2025 season.
After returning to the NFL following a year in retirement, Waller spent the first four weeks of Dolphins training camp on the physically unable to perform list, working on the side. Miami elected not to activate him for joint practices against Chicago and Detroit. The club activated him last week, but he wasn’t seen taking part in joint practice drills with Jacksonville and didn’t play in the final preseason game.
That schedule gives Waller minimal time to really prep for the start of the regular season, as he began full-fledged practices this week.
“I’m happy to be where I’m at and in the mix,” Waller said this week via the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “My first practice in a while and, in some ways, it feels like it. There’s always going to be areas to grow, things you got to knock some rust off, but I’m just grateful to be where I’m at.”
After trading Jonnu Smith to Pittsburgh, the Dolphins acquired Waller, who retired in June 2024. The 32-year-old appeared in 21 games over the past three years.
“You can’t always predict how your body will respond from having time away,” Waller said. “Mostly, it’s just my body responding well and, in some ways, it didn’t, so it was just like being cautious in that way to, I guess, look at the bigger picture as opposed to maybe rushing in to get ready for the very beginning.”
Time away from football could disrupt Waller’s timing on routes, especially while learning a new scheme. Given the limited reps since his July return, building chemistry with Tua Tagovailoa remains a concern, although coach Mike McDaniel has downplayed it.
“I’m comfortable until I’m shown a reason not to be comfortable,” McDaniel said of the QB-TE chemistry. “And then, with those two guys and how intentional they are, that just takes one meeting of concerted detail before I think that they will be in step.”
Waller currently ranks as TE1 in the Dolphins offense ahead of former undrafted free agents Julian Hill and Tanner Conner. That’s a significant gamble for a club that utilized the position substantially under McDaniel. The uncertainty is heightened as Waller, even before retiring, struggled with injuries, missing 19 games over the previous three seasons.
“I feel good,” Waller said. “I know coming back in is going to be a process. It’s not going to be something that you just walk back into. In some ways it’s like riding a bike, but in a lot of ways, there’s a physical demand, there’s a mental demand, emotional demand, that you’ve got to get back used to and I respect that that’s a process and that’s a grind.”
The Dolphins hope he hops on that bike and gets back to pedaling like it’s 2020, his lone Pro Bowl season.