During his first full season as a starter, Darren Waller had a monster season with the Raiders. He led the team in receptions (90) and receiving yards (1,145) as he quickly developed into one of the league’s most dynamic tight ends.
But how does the former Georgia Tech star compare to the other elite tight ends in the NFL? Is he already one of the league’s top five tight ends? In a recent article by Solomon Wilcots of Pro Football Focus, he broke down the top tight ends in the NFL by tiers and answered that question.
In Tier 1 were the usual suspects of Travis Kelce, George Kittle, and even Rob Gronkowski, who has come out of retirement to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Then in Tier 2, Waller was mentioned among the likes of Zach Ertz and Mark Andrews. Here is a snippet of Wilcots’ thoughts on Waller from last season:
“After playing in only 16 games between 2016-18, the Raiders saw Darren Waller explode last season. Waller finished the year with the sixth-best PFF receiving grade (86.8) among tight ends who saw at least 25 targets; he also finished second among all tight ends with 90 receptions and 29 explosive plays of 15 or more yards.”
In the article, Wilcots mentions that finished first among tight ends in yards per reception and yards per route run in man coverage. He certainly was better against man coverage than in zone coverage, but finished among the best in that area, as well. Ultimately, Wilcots ranked Waller as the league’s fifth-best tight end entering the 2020 season.
If Waller wants to climb this list this season, he needs to show that he can build off his incredible 2019 season. That, in itself, might be enough to catapult himself into a Tier 1 tight end. Becoming a more effective player in the red zone would undoubtedly help as well as he scored just three touchdowns on 117 targets last season.
Another way that Waller can improve dramatically as a player is as a blocker. According to Pro Football Focus, Waller graded out as only an average run blocker in 2019. He finished 34th among 69 qualifying tight ends in run blocking with a grade of 58.2. Waller doesn’t need to be a dominating blocker, but some improvement in this area could put some distance between himself and players like Zach Ertz
It’s hard not to be really excited about Waller entering the 2020 season. At just 27 years old, he is just starting to reach the peak of his career and we saw a glimpse of just how special of a player he can be. Look for an even better season from Waller in 2020 now that the Raiders added more weapons around him this offseason.
[vertical-gallery id=68979]
[lawrence-newsletter]