Darren Waller...is he the real deal?

[Pullo Vision]

Everyone focuses on how he stopped the drugs, and that's definitely an interesting human interest story. I always liked the bit about how Oakland's coaching staff watched him in warm ups before a game and were so impressed they tracked down who he was and signed him to their PS.

[bjd5211]

Everyone focuses on how he stopped the drugs, and that's definitely an interesting human interest story. I always liked the bit about how Oakland's coaching staff watched him in warm ups before a game and were so impressed they tracked down who he was and signed him to their PS.

One of the few good personnel decisions they've made in the Gruden era.

[jman3134]

Always a stud? Hindsight remains undefeated lol

He had 3 years as a WR in college and didn't total 1000 yards in his 3 years. He was drafted as a WR in the 6th round.

Was on IR halfway through his roomie season, 2015. Missed 4 games in 2016 for substance abuse. Missed all of 2017 for the same reason. In 2018 he had 6 receptions.

Always a stud... Sure.

Thanks for reiterating what I already said. I almost forgot I said it like 30 minutes ago.

He's always been a stud ATHLETE. Thought my last line about always having the talent and that giant colorful graphic would have made that a bit more obvious to you. He's obviously built to be a tight end and once was utilized that way, paid dividends.
“I was in Baltimore, I was just like a vegetable,” Darren Waller explained. “I was getting high literally every day. Whatever I could get my hands on. It was like opiates, oxy, pills, Xanax, cocaine. Not caring about anything, like any kind of consequences or anything like that.”
Yeah... he wasn't getting suspended for smoking weed so that may have just had a little influence on his playing ability. And spent the majority of 2018 having to actually come up to speed now sober (also didn't get activated till November and played in maybe 4 games, forgot to mention that when pointing out his stats that year).

Stay salty guy.

waller.JPG

Outside of later breakout age, dude always was a stud. Crazy how so many people dug deep finding excuses to discount if not write off what he's been doing. Lots forget TE is probably the hardest position to learn going from college to pro's outside of QB, mixed with his drug addiction coming into the league; took a few extra years to get there. But he's always had all the talent in the world.

Hmm... You need to relax some dude. You post a pic of his workout metrics and say always a stud. Don't then try to comeback and change it all and say I'm the one who's salty. Just pointing out that he was NEVER a stud until 2019. Have fun being a keyboard warrior though

Outsider: you def came off as rude and salty, as if no one could have predicted Waller's emergence. And now you are trying to flip the script.

[Jigga94]

Thanks for reiterating what I already said. I almost forgot I said it like 30 minutes ago.

He's always been a stud ATHLETE. Thought my last line about always having the talent and that giant colorful graphic would have made that a bit more obvious to you. He's obviously built to be a tight end and once was utilized that way, paid dividends.
“I was in Baltimore, I was just like a vegetable,” Darren Waller explained. “I was getting high literally every day. Whatever I could get my hands on. It was like opiates, oxy, pills, Xanax, cocaine. Not caring about anything, like any kind of consequences or anything like that.”
Yeah... he wasn't getting suspended for smoking weed so that may have just had a little influence on his playing ability. And spent the majority of 2018 having to actually come up to speed now sober (also didn't get activated till November and played in maybe 4 games, forgot to mention that when pointing out his stats that year).

Stay salty guy.

waller.JPG

Outside of later breakout age, dude always was a stud. Crazy how so many people dug deep finding excuses to discount if not write off what he's been doing. Lots forget TE is probably the hardest position to learn going from college to pro's outside of QB, mixed with his drug addiction coming into the league; took a few extra years to get there. But he's always had all the talent in the world.

Hmm... You need to relax some dude. You post a pic of his workout metrics and say always a stud. Don't then try to comeback and change it all and say I'm the one who's salty. Just pointing out that he was NEVER a stud until 2019. Have fun being a keyboard warrior though

Outsider: you def came off as rude and salty, as if no one could have predicted Waller's emergence. And now you are trying to flip the script.

Wasn't my intention and not sure how I did that lol I just posted his history and said he wasn't a stud for the first 4 years of his nfl career or college. Then I get called names by a dude who has brought nothing to the table besides claiming to always know Waller was a stud, despite cutting him. Pretty fruitless discussion as Waller is now a stud so it's whatever

[MEuRaH]

Vulgarity is not OK, especially when directed at other users. The DLF forums are a free service whose purpose is to allow everyone to discuss opinions and ideas. The post in question has been removed and users have been either warned and/or removed temporarily.

Sorry to bump this thread a tad.

[cantguardjake]

Did he really just say he was always a stud and then that he cut him in the next post lol and then that he was triggered, but someone else is the salty one haha.

Waller is a beast. IMO a combination of speed score / 3 cone are the most important factor in making an uber elite fantasy tight end, the rest are JAGs. It’s why I still have high hopes for Fant.

Pitts testing numbers will be interesting.

[cantguardjake]

Because it WAS hindsight, he was not "always a stud". Ya he was a great athlete, but so what? There are a ton of phenomenal athletes in the NFL who are completely average to bad players, and average athletes (by NFL standards) who are phenomenal players.

Especially at TE alone I think we get caught up with some of the more athletic ones, hoping they can be the next best thing. Engram, Everett, Dustin Keller, Luke Wilson, Rob Housler all have charts that look exactly like Wallers. I'd include Gesicki in that list too but it looks like he will be a fine TE

Everett ran a 4.62 at 239 pounds with baby hands.

Wilson did a pro day.

Keller is probably the one that stands out as being super athletic that didn’t really do much, but once again he was 6 foot 2, they all kind of had red flags in a way.

Engram and Gesicki haven’t been too bad, Engram is at least startable.

[dustyroads]

Did he really just say he was always a stud and then that he cut him in the next post lol and then that he was triggered, but someone else is the salty one haha.

Waller is a beast. IMO a combination of speed score / 3 cone are the most important factor in making an uber elite fantasy tight end, the rest are JAGs. It’s why I still have high hopes for Fant.

Pitts testing numbers will be interesting.

Yeah, cut him in 2017 when he left football completely for the entire year to go to rehab with a decent chance of never coming back. And then picked him back up after 2018 when he did come back and they retained him. If that’s too mind boggling to understand, don’t know what else to tell ya bud.

[cantguardjake]

Did he really just say he was always a stud and then that he cut him in the next post lol and then that he was triggered, but someone else is the salty one haha.

Waller is a beast. IMO a combination of speed score / 3 cone are the most important factor in making an uber elite fantasy tight end, the rest are JAGs. It’s why I still have high hopes for Fant.

Pitts testing numbers will be interesting.

Yeah, cut him in 2017 when he left football completely for the entire year to go to rehab with a decent chance of never coming back. And then picked him back up after 2018 when he did come back and they retained him. If that’s too mind boggling to understand, don’t know what else to tell ya bud.

Seems like he wasn’t a stud in 2017 then lol

[Pullo Vision]

Waller finished the year on a crazy well-timed run. 4 of 5 final games with 100 plus yards, 4 of 5 games with 10 plus targets, 4 receiving TDs during that 5 game stretch.

I'm struggling to see why he wouldn't be in the top tier with Kittle and Kelce. At some point, his struggles early in his career like PS stints, drugs and stepping away from football for a year lose significance in the face of two years of succeeding as a big play alpha receiver being fed volume. Going forward, age is the only ding on his value. He's 1 year older than Kittle and 3 years younger than Kelce, so it's not a huge difference to other elite dynasty TEs.

[bjd5211]

He is in their tier, they are just above him in the tier. Those 3 are the Tier 1 and then there is probably a bigger drop from T1 to T2 than at any other position.

[Ice]

Easiest short answer to the question that didn't need to be revisited after the 2020 season.

4th in the NFL receptions. Most receptions by a TE at 107;

Yes he is the real deal and Tier 1.

[Cameron Giles]

Yep, Waller is firmly an elite TE right now and likely the TE3 for most people behind whatever combination of Kelce and Kittle.

I don't think anyone is downgrading him for his off-field struggles before his breakout. He's been elite two seasons in a row, so there's no fluke.

[Pac_Eddy]

He's elite.

The only thing that could reduce his value to me is a change at QB, and/or adding a talented WR to take away some targets.

[Pullo Vision]

Easiest short answer to the question that didn't need to be revisited after the 2020 season.

4th in the NFL receptions. Most receptions by a TE at 107;

Yes he is the real deal and Tier 1.

I bought him in a few leagues last offseason because the value seemed great, given the upside. I wasn't a fanatical believer then and I'm looking for a reason to believe in him going forward.