Darren Waller...is he the real deal?

[nathanq42]

I think he will still produce top 7 or so TE numbers, but it'll be hard for him to command 117 targets again... only saving grace is that typically WRs dont pop in their first years (some do obviously but its a gradual transition for the most part) and Ruggs doesn't operate in the same areas of the field that Waller would, so maybe his efficiency could see a boost with Ruggs and Tyrell taking the tops off defenses while his volume goes down? He did also just get paid big time, so I assume Gruden has a decent plan drawn up for him. All in all... could go either way...

[Ray Finkle]

I like him and expect pretty much the same fantasy output which was pretty darn good last season. My guess is that the yardage will come down 150-200 yards but those points will be made up with 2-3 more tds. If he does throw down targets, receptions and yardage like that again though, it’ll be big time because I can’t imagine he is held to only 3 tds like last year.

With all that said, I traded him away a couple weeks ago in a package to get Miles

[dustyroads]

Bump.

Spoiler alert: the answer is yes.

[nathanq42]

Im glad I couldnt offload him last offseason. Dude is a stud and I reckon he will be a large part of Gruden's game plan for a long time

[dustyroads]

waller.JPG (110.03 KiB) Viewed 388 times

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.

[Jigga94]

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.

[nathanq42]

yeah he was an athletic freak coming out but until last year he had done nothing to inspire any sort of confidence. Im glad he found a way to get clean and stay clean, but as a TE he was truly worthless until he broke out. Dude is a stud now, and I dont see a path to him losing it unless he were to unfortunately slip back into substance abuse. There is no way the Raiders waste more draft capital/salary cap space on WR after one season of Ruggs and a third or so of Edwards in an abbreviated offseason. I expect them to bring back Agholor, but the main receiving threat is going to be Waller for the next couple years IMO, and he is such a mismatch. LBs cant keep up, and CBs can be out muscled. Darren Waller is what we all wanted Engram to become.

[dustyroads]

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.

[CGW]

Yeah hes a stud at the TE position. Those who landed him on waivers have one of it not the best pickup I can remember.

Hes one of 3 maybe 4 TE that give an advantage at the position and in most leagues that is gold. I'll still take Kelce and Kittle over him, but hes clearly over the rest of the pack at this point.

Sad I have no shares as i was too busy fixated on Andrews.

[dustyroads]

Yeah as someone who drafted him in 2015 and picked him back up summer of 19 before the hard knocks hype but after everyone else was drooling over Moreau, the hindsight comment tweaked me. Long offseason too of the naysayers. Think it’s the first elite tight end I’ve hit on since Gonzalez. It’s been a long wait to say the least lol.

[bjd5211]

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.

[Jigga94]

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

[Jigga94]

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

[Cameron Giles]

Waller has one of the most improbable rises to an elite TE that we've seen in a while, maybe since Antonio Gates. Sure, Kittle came out of nowhere too, but nothing like this:

- Did nothing notable in college as a WR
- Drafted 6th round
- Did nothing in the NFL for two years
- Got suspended for an entire season for violating the substance abuse policy
- It was referenced in Hard Knocks that he wasn't sure if he would play football again
- Reinstated a year later
- Waived
- Cut
- Signed back to the practice squad
- Signed from the practice squad to Oakland
- Does nothing in Oakland in 2018
- Becomes an elite TE in 2019 overnight.

It's just insane. He's clearly here to stay though. Just a ridiculously good TE.

[KingsKing]

Bought him around week 9-10 for Kirk and a 2nd rounder from a team looking to get younger. His play down the stretch led me to a title. 3 years younger than Kelce and he should be a fixture on my roster for 3-5 years.