If Darren Waller was mentioned as a replacement for Jonnu Smith in the Miami Dolphins offense following Monday's Jalen Ramsey trade, it was most likely in jest. After all, the former Raiders and Giants tight end retired last year and has been more prominently focusing on his music career than football. Thus, guys like Kyle Pitts or Michael Mayer made more logical sense as replacements the Dolphins could pursue. But somehow, they landed on Waller, completing a trade with the Giants on Tuesday that will get the veteran out of retirement and back onto an NFL field.
As reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Dolphins sent a conditional 2026 sixth-round pick to New York, who returned Waller — with the promise that he'll come out of retirement — and a 2027 seventh-round pick to Miami in the deal. Waller, subsequently, will be on a one-year, $5 million contract with the Dolphins this season after the trade.
Trade: Dolphins are trading a conditional 2026 sixth to the New York Giants for a 2027 seventh-round pick and Darren Waller.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 1, 2025
Waller is coming out of retirement after agreeing to a one-year deal with the Dolphins worth up to $5 million, per Drew Rosenhaus and Robert Bailey.
Prior to his sudden retirement, Waller had experienced a precipitous decline in his production both before coming to New York and after. He posted back-to-back 1,100-yard seasons with the Raiders in 2019 and 2020, but missed at least five games in each of the next three seasons, culminating with 52 catches, 552 yards and just one touchdown in 2023, his lone year with the Giants.
Despite that, however, Mike McDaniel, Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins could still end up looking like geniuses when this is all said and done.
Darren Waller is the type of all-or-nothing gamble the Dolphins should be making
Obviously, just getting anyone who has produced meaningfully at tight end into the Dolphins offense is huge after dealing Smith to Pittsburgh. Without Waller in the fray, Miami was looking down the barrel of Pharaoh Brown or Julian Hill being their starting tight end in the 2025 season, which wouldn't have gone well for just about anyone. Waller alone changes the optimism there.
At the same time, though the veteran is now in his mid-30s and coming off a year in which he didn't touch an NFL field, he's still a physically dominant presence. His 6-foot-6 frame with his athleticism and movement ability should fit right into the motion-heavy stylings of McDaniel while also hopefully offering Tua a better and surer option in the middle of the field, something that the Dolphins struggled to exploit far too often last season. That was amplified by an inconsistent rushing attack as well.
More importantly, though, this is a massive year for the Dolphins. It's a year in which McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier's jobs could very well be on the line if they don't find success. And to that point, that success almost certainly needs to be meaningful. With the questions around Tagovailoa's health and some aging core pieces, it's a year in which Miami has every reason to want to go all in.
What would playing it safe at tight end really do for this offense? Would it help to ensure that they're a 7-to-9 win team that probably misses the playoffs? That's not good enough for this regime to retain their jobs, nor is it good enough for Miami to find something they can build on moving forward. Waller, though it's far from a guarantee, offers the upside of being a dynamic, potentially game-changing threat for Tua and this offense.
Again, this as far from a certainty as you can get. There's a chance that Waller is, to put a fine point on it, washed up at this point and this whole endeavor is fruitless. If that happens, though, at least Grier and McDaniel went down swinging with these Dolphins and weren't complacent before ultimately ending up in the same spot — namely, somewhere other than Miami.