In case you forgot the talent Darren Waller was after his 2019 season in which he caught 90 passes for 1150 yards, he reminded everyone last Sunday.
The elite tight end caught 13 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns in the team’s comeback win over the Jets. His performance was historic and it made him an easy pick for the NFL Offensive Player of the Week.
Last season, Waller burst onto the scene with the Raiders. Prior to that, he was a relative unknown. He was a sixth-round pick as a former wide receiver who spent most of the first few years of his career on the Ravens’ practice squad. Then the Raiders signed him away from the Ravens and it didn’t take long for Derek Carr to realize the team had stumbled upon a special talent in Waller.
“It was the first route that he ran,” Carr said of when he knew Waller was special. “I really just couldn’t believe how fast he was. How well he could play. I just couldn’t believe a man that big could run that fast. How he could catch the ball. I’m trying to put everything together because I didn’t know what he had been through before. I didn’t know his story. . . I didn’t know much about his background so I’m like ‘how did we get this guy? How is he just been on the practice squad somewhere?’ I just remember throwing him his first route in practice, I threw it like ten feet behind him and I’m like “Man, this guy can run.’ And from then on it was like this beautiful thing.”
Carr knows full well now how the Raiders got him. As does most everyone after Waller was so forthcoming about his struggles with addiction over his first few seasons. It’s a testament to his immense talent that despite it all, the Ravens kept bringing him back in the hopes he could clean himself up and live up to his potential.
It’s a great credit to Greg Olson for recognizing Waller’s talent along with Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock for seeing the level of character Waller possessed that showed he was ready to take his career to the next level. They got him at the perfect point in his career and nearly through his second full season with the Raiders, Waller is second in the NFL among tight ends in both catches and receiving yards. He’s once again on pace to surpass 1000 yards with an eye on a Pro Bowl nod.
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