The key to building a championship-caliber team is drafting well and signing key veterans to affordable contracts. Over the past few years, we have seen the Raiders find a ton of value in the middle rounds of the draft and they have been aggressive in free agency. However, their best move of the last few seasons might have been what they did at tight end.
After a brilliant 2018 season, the Raiders allowed Pro Bowl tight end Jared Cook to hit free agency and failed to match an offer by the New Orleans Saints. The reason they felt so comfortable allowing their best offensive player to leave was due to Darren Waller.
Waller made the transition to tight end late in 2018 and showed enough that the Raiders were confident in him being the team’s No. 1 option at the position in 2019. He rewarded their belief by posting huge numbers and the team ultimately signed him to a deal the next offseason.
In a recent article by Rivers McCown of ESPN, he wrote about each team’s best veteran contract. For the Raiders, the choice was easy as Waller count under 3.4 percent of the team’s cap space for the next four seasons. Here is what McCown had to say about the team’s star tight end:
“The buzz was that Derek Carr’s targets would shift more downfield with the acquisition of receivers Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards in the draft. Instead, this successful reclamation project by the Raiders has become an even bigger part of the passing game this year, catching 73% of the 62 targets he’s received. The only tight end with more targets through eight weeks is Travis Kelce. Waller is on pace to end the season pretty close to the 117 targets he got last season when he led all tight ends in DYAR. He won’t make as much money as Jimmy Graham this year. Waller is a star tight end being paid like a middle-class find. This is a shrewd contract for the Raiders.”
Outside of Derek Carr, Waller is the team’s most important player on the roster. He is the featured player of their offense and is a huge mismatch for opponents. As he continues to learn the position, he should only become a more well-rounded player as we have already seen him develop quite a bit as a blocker.
Look for the Raiders to continue to feed their star tight end over the next nine games of the season and ride him to a potential playoff berth. His contract should only improve in value the further we get into his career.
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