BREAKING NEWS! Miami Dolphins Trade For Darren Waller!

BREAKING NEWS! Miami Dolphins Trade For Darren Waller!

Well, Tom Pelisero was not lying when he said the Miami Dolphins would be scouring the tight end market as surprise surprise, they’ve acquired someone I don’t think any of us thought they were targeting in recently retired Darren Waller from the New York Giants. We will discuss it all in detail. Smash the like button, subscribe if you are new, and let’s get into this. [Music] [Applause] You have got to be kidding me. Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Beautiful [Applause] [Music] [Applause] day to be a dolphin dance. Let’s go. [Music] What is good, Finn Nation? What’s good, Finn Nation? We are back here for another one two today as now thanks to this deal. The video that I dropped this morning about the Miami Dolphins being interested in Michael Mayer. I mean you might be able to label that irrelevant right now. We’ll see how things play out. But the Miami Dolphins went ahead and added to a weekend tight end room with a name none of us were really discussing. A lot of us were discussing Darren Waller, Mark Andrews, Cole KT, I mean Dallas Godart even was I saw out there Noah Fant, etc., etc., etc. Um, we’re going to talk about it in great detail here. Uh, I’m just going to let you know before we even get into it. I’m torn on this. I I really am torn on this. I see the vision, but I got some real questions. All right, so we’re gonna talk about it all. Shout out to Knight for coming through. He says, “The last two days have been the a the epitome of Greer.” Well, go ahead, Knight. In the chat, let me know exactly. Lay it out for the people. Let me let me know exactly what you mean by that. Do you mean one step forward, two steps back? You know, one step forward with Minka, two steps back with Darren Waller, you know, where are we going with this? Do you mean acquiring Minka to be a star in the secondary, but then going out and making a deal that some might label as questionable in Darren Waller? I don’t know. So, lay it out in the chat what exactly you mean by that night. All right. So, um let’s talk about this. All right. Let’s get into this without further ad. All right. And I’m sitting here chilling, enjoying my Canada day, thinking, “All right, le let’s hopefully something happens tomorrow.” And they didn’t wait very long at all. And boy, what a surprise it was. What a surprise. Franch franchise trade changing trade for Minka, then filling a void with an older, formerly retired player with injury issues. You know, is it same old Greer? Let me know in the chat right now. Is this the same old Greer? Does Knight have a point? Because I will say he has a point. Let me know in the chat. Does Knight have a point with what he’s saying. All right. Now, smash that like button, too. Already 300 of you in the room. Let’s get into this. So, oh, about an hour and a half ago, surprise. The Miami Dolphins are finalizing a trade with the Giants for former Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller, who is coming out of retirement to play in Miami per sources. A fascinating twist for Waller, who retired last summer and a new weapon for a team that just traded Jonnu Smith. Now, I will say this. You know what’s kind of crazy? If we would have traded for him last summer and he wouldn’t have had a chance to retire, we’d all probably love this trade a lot. The issue that we’re going to have here, and I think a lot of people, rightfully so, will have this issue. How many guys come out of retirement and are uber uber productive? Now, remember, let’s be honest here. We are five and six years removed from the 2020 and 2019 seasons. Remember 2020 with Vegas he had 1196 yards on 107 receptions. In 2019 he had 100 sorry 45 yards on 90 receptions. So, you know, an 1145 yard season in 2019, followed up by 1196 yard season in 2020, right? 12 touchdowns between those two seasons with nine of those coming in 2020 alone when Derek Carr was slinging him the ball and we didn’t see the drastic falloff we’ve seen with Derek Carr in recent years when he was still considered, you know, Derek Carr was a top 12, top 10 quarterback at that time. But anyways, I digress. We are far removed from those years. All right. Um, now that’s not to say you got to go look at the yards per reception, right? So in 2020 when he had 1196 yards, he was averaging about 11.2 yards per reception. In 2021, he was averaging 12.1 yards. In 2022, he was averaging 13.9 yards. The issue was was his target rate went way down due to games played, right? Injuries. 2021 he only played 11 games. 2022 he only played nine games. 2023, his first and only year with the Giants, he only played 12 games. So, he hasn’t played a full season as well since 2020, you know. Now, Knight hits here and says, “Waller did say Frank was one coach that he’d come back for.” If you follow me on Twitter, when I saw this, I retweeted it and my whole stance was, I wonder how much influence Frank Smith had on this trade. Now, Frank Smith, our offensive coordinator, was also the one who converted Darren Waller from a wide receiver to a tight end. And then you saw Darren Waller blow up and for a two-year period, he was one of the top tight ends in football, right, in 2019 and 2020. So, you know, obviously, uh, you know, obviously there’s going to be massive influence there. Um, and then AJR305 asked, “What’s the vision?” Well, here’s the vision. We all thought they were going to go out and try and get someone who could be a dual threat tight end. And what what do we mean by that? Someone who can block and someone who can also offer you upside as a pass catcher. Now, obviously, the upside is there as a pass catcher. Okay, Waller, you know, knows how to use that frame he has. All right, he’s a big boy. 66, 245. Now, I don’t know if that weight has fluctuated since he’s been off. I don’t know what the deal is on that, but he can win those one-on-one battles. He can win in the red zone. He can offer you something on third down. Um, you know, as a receiver, I’m going to be very interested to see if it’s still there. I I really really am cuz remember Darren Waller, you know, this is another guy. He ran a 446, right? When when he he did his combine in 2015 coming out of Georgia Tech, a 2.6 220 yard split, a 1.57 10 yard split, he had a 37 in vertical, you know, a 10’5 in broad jump. If we’re talking about like elite explosive athletic numbers, obviously where he lacked was the bench and he was a little light um in terms of weight, but you know, you’re talking about another high-end athlete that they’ve added. All right. And I think that’s where they’re trying to they’re trying to replace the athleticism they lost with Janu. Remember Jonnu ran a 462, right? 271 120 yard split and a 166 10 yard split. So you look at the athleticism at the tight end position, Darren Waller offers you more. There’s just no doubt about that. Whatever whatsoever, he offers you a lot more. All right, in terms of the athletic department. Now, another issue here is we’ve got a serious injury history. Serious injury history. All right. Like, and what bothers me about this is a lot of it is lower extremity. All right, you’re talking about a guy who he’s missed legitimate time since 2022, right? Between 2022 and 2023, his final years, he was having serious hamstring injuries. You know, now you go back to 2021, he had a knee injury and remember he also had that back injury, but he missed time in 2021 due to a knee injury. And in 2022 and 2023, he mainly battled a hamstring injury. So again, there’s always a caveat, it seems, right? So, I mean, he’s retired, but listen, I I can say and we can confirm that he wants to be here. He wants to play in Miami. How do we know that? Because Tom Pelisero even tweeted that out. And this is where I go back to the influence Frank Smith had. Darren Waller. He says right here, right? Darren Waller. He retired last summer. All right. See it right there before your eyes. And what did he say? But he recently informed the Giants he wanted to play again only if he could do it in Miami. Now he gets his wish and he’s signing an adjusted incentive laden deal to complete this trade. So, he’s not going to be paid what he was paid with the Giants. We know that now. But, I mean, if you are looking for some positives in this situation, he wants to be here, right? He wants to be in Miami. So, I mean, I guess that’s positive, you know? I guess that’s if you want something to take away, that’s a good thing, right? Um because remember, you know, like this guy signed like a three-year 51 million extension in September of 2022 with the Raiders, right? And then he was traded to the New York Giants like what not even a year later right about 186 days later he was traded on March 15th for a compensatory third round pick. So the guy didn’t even last a year on that deal. And obviously we’re not going to be taking on a three-year $51 million, you know, the butt end of a three-year $51 million contract extension. So, he’s going to be adjusting his deal and it’s going to be incentive laden. So, let’s talk about a few things here, okay? You know, and we got more to talk about with it, but let’s stick to where we’re at right here. Okay? You’re going to see because we’re going to get into it here. The compensation was then revealed after, and we’ll get into the compensation in a sec here, but this isn’t even really about the compensation because we know this is going to be team friendly. Now, I will also say this, thank God there’s like, you know, tampering investigations aren’t a big thing. And for all you Panthers fans, you know what I’m talking about, right? Mitch Marner, right? The Toronto Maple Leafs had to do a sign and trade deal to trade Marner to the Vegas Knights because it had been discovered behind the scenes that the Vegas Knights had been tampering with Mitch Mner since last off season. Clearly, you know, Darren Waller’s in retirement. I don’t know how it works there, you know, because he’s still technically contractually under the New York Giants thumb. So, but clearly Frank Smith got on the horn, knew there was going to be an opportunity here available and definitely made the call. I mean, let let’s let’s call it what it is. Frank Smith clearly clearly was the middleman in this and clearly the influence in this, you know, and from Waller’s standpoint, he’s probably sitting here watching what Jonnu did last year, right? And he’s also seeing obviously Tyreek Wadd Achan. He’s seeing guys that are going to draw attention that he could probably feed up on the scenes with, etc., etc. He’s probably seeing opportunity here. Let’s be real. Now, another thing, too, is he’s going to be 33 in September, right? After week one, this guy’s going to turn 33. You know, I I I just I don’t know. You know, like I go back and we were talking about the Cole Kettes, we’re talking about the Michael Mayers, we’re talking about, you know, all the other options that are out there, Mark Andrews, etc., etc. We don’t know how high of a I think that’s where a lot of the issue is coming with fans for this trade. We don’t know how high of a level this guy can play at right now. And then when you look at historically how many guys have come out of retirement and been really good right away, you know, like and then we’ve got a guy with an injury history here with his hamstring ex and stuff. And we’re a team and we’re a fan base that’s sick of the injury history. whether it be the quarterback, whether it be some of our receivers, right? Whether it be our edge rushers, our star edge rushers, and now it is another. Now again, based on the compensation that we’re I’m going to show you they give up, it’s not high risk by any stretch of the imagination, but at the same time, it is a risk of are you going to waste a roster spot for a guy who’s, you know, not going to be able to stay healthy for you? He hasn’t stayed healthy since 2020. Now, I’m hoping him being retired has refreshed his body physically and refreshed him mentally, right? And I know, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m pretty sure this guy retired, too, and he went into rapping, right? I guess rap career didn’t work out very much for Darren Waller because here he is. But you know clearly his heart and his mind were in other areas. Now again to be fair to the situation to try and be objective and play devil’s advocate was this due to what was going on in New York you know with Daniel Jones and Brian Dabble and after that 2023 year did anyone really think the Giants were going to become a powerhouse? you know, was he looking at it as, “Oh my god, I’m just going to waste my 30s here.” I don’t know, right? I’m sure we’ll get some of that information as time goes on here, you know? But, I mean, this is a swing. I mean, this is a swing. Now, is it going to be a swing and a miss? I don’t know. Is it going to be a swing and a base hit? I don’t know. Is it going to be a swing and a double? I don’t know. Is it gonna be a swing and a home run? I don’t know. But this is a swing, you know, and especially you added a guy like Jaylen Conurs right in as a UDFA. You’ve already got Hayden Ruchcci from last year who I think a lot of us are intrigued to see what he could do in second year. This coaching staff loves Tanner Connor who can never put it together and is injured all the time too. Julian Hill. You know, the issue is this is not going to be, however you break it down, I don’t see a three down tight end, which I think a lot of us wanted a guy who could fill that Y or F role. And if you look at this, this might just be an F. How how much in line are you really going to be seeing Darren Waller? Right. I because I mean he’s not he’s not a great blocker by any stretch of the imagination. Like at all at all. So I’m just sitting here like all right let’s go I guess you know. Um, now the Giants, they use him for about 220 snaps in his final year there before he retired. They use him in line and then they use him in the slot about 2 and28 times. All right. Now, you go look at his usage. We’ll go back to that 2020 season where he had,00 yards. Yeah, he was in line, but he wasn’t tasked to block. Right, Chip? get out, chip, leak out, you know, threaten the seams, etc., etc. And remember Oakland when Vegas, because he was there when it was Oakland, and then he was still there when it was Vegas. They did a lot of tight tight formations and heavy formations. I don’t know. It It’s going to be interesting because he’s never been a good blocker. Obviously, he’s a converted wide receiver at the pro level. He’s never been a good blocker. That’s never been a strength you It’s never been a strength of his game to ask him to be a run blocker. Never. And given our offense and how we like to use Jonnu, he’s probably going to have the highest amount if he plays a full season. He’s probably going to have the highest number of slot snaps he’s had in his career thus far. Again, his body, I see him winning one-on- ons if his body can hold up. I see him offering us a little bit of a threat in the red zone up the seams, maybe making a play on third down. But I know some people are comparing this to OBJ and saying, “Oh, this is another OBJ.” I mean, I don’t know about that. Let’s hope it’s not, you know, let’s hope it’s not another Chris Carter. Probably you remember when he came here. Um, again, it’s just maybe the Raiders really weren’t interested in trading Michael Mayer, right? Cole KT makes 11 million this year. Financially, they’re probably not down to paying Cole KT. I talked about this, right? I would love Cole KT, but I knew they weren’t going to $11 million. You really think they’re going to dedicate that to a tight end right now if they wouldn’t give 12 million to Janna, who’s already familiar here? Now, would I like is Cole KT a better well-rounded tight end? 110%. You’re not going to hear an argument from me, but they’re not going to give that money. Again, if Tyreek wasn’t here, they might be a little bit more willing to bend on that. Mark Andrews. Mark Andrews had like a $16 million hit. I said I would love him here, but are they going to pay him $16 million? No. And look, it now we can confirm they’ve given an incentive laden contract to Darren Waller. What does that tell you? It’s going to be very minimal. They’re not breaking the bank for anything for this and probably it’s back to the corner market. So now what did they give up? What was the compensation in the deal? The Giants get a sixthround pick from Miami for Darren Waller and a conditional seventhrounder. It’s essentially a free pick for New York for a player who was retired and a low-risk flyer from Miami on a player who at his peak was one of the NFL’s best. Again, we went over this. His peak was five or six years ago, you know, and he’s had a lot of stuff go on in his life. I remember he had that got married and then I think didn’t they divorced or something? I mean, he’s just had a lot going on mentally, you know. Um it now personally, why are we sending two draft picks? I mean, the six should have been enough. Now, the conditional 2027 seventh rounder, obviously, we don’t have information on that yet exactly what that is, but I’m going to venture and probably take a se safe guess and say that that’s if he performs and if they get production out of him, then they get a seventh as well, you know? I mean, but again, he is a great, you know, from a receiving standpoint when he was healthy, you know, you got a great receiver here. Again, converted wide receiver, so great hands, you know what I mean? Has a pretty wide catch radius when you watch him. And I mean, hey, if we get a good version of Darren Waller, all of a sudden his skill group, does it really take a dive? Because now you’re talking about like Tua, Achan, um Tyreek Hill, Wadd, Darren Waller, Jaylen Wright’s going to probably have a big year. Nick Westbrook kind and Malik Washington stepping up in the receiver room, you know, but I still think this doesn’t I I still think Frell Brown and Julian Hill are gonna get the snaps we were expecting. You know what I mean? Like I still think they are gonna get a lot of the inline run blocking snaps we were still expecting them to get. And this just this just screams Frank Smith. But again, he he’s got really good hands, you know? I mean, you can’t say enough about the hands on Darren Waller. He’s got good hands. All right. You’re talking about a guy who in his last two years, he only had three drops on about 114 targets and 80 receptions. He had 80 receptions on those targets. Now, obviously, he had a few more drops when his target share in 2020 and 2021 and 2019 was higher, right? You know, obviously he had more drops. He had 13 drops in those three years, but that’s because he was, you know, you do the math and he saw about 357 targets. So 13 drops on 357 targets, but his drop rate in 2020 where he had his best year was only like 1.8%. In 2023 with his only year with New York, it was about 1.9%. So you got really good hands. You got really good hands. And I’m just going to be interested. I’m going to be interested to see what the numbers are on what he’s getting paid. You know, I I’m going to be very interested to see. So, man, who saw this happened? Who like who who saw this happening? Not me. I don’t think anyone saw this, right? I don’t think anyone saw this. So, you know, I’m interested in in in what this in in what this turns out to be. So, I don’t know. And what can you say? It’s it’s a decent move for the Miami Dolphins. It’s a lowrisk, high reward. So, oh, sorry. I apologize, too. Uh, Palisero had it wrong. All right, the Dolphins. All right, I’m just seeing this right here. The Dolphins are trading a sixth round pick to the Giants in exchange for Waller in a conditional seventh. So there you go. They got it wrong. Did Tom Pelisero I guess there was just wanted to correct him there in terms of the compensation. Obviously he had it a little bit off. Um here is some Let’s do a deeper dive. Marcel Lu Jacques. He covered it and so it’s one pick. All right. Tom Pelisero, you saw it there. He had it. Screwed up. So, here you go. Tight end Darren Waller will come out of retirement to join the Miami Dolphins. His agents told ESPN’s Adam Sheper on Tuesday. The Dolphins will trade a 2026 sixround pick to the New York Giants, who held his rights in exchange for Waller, and a conditional 2027 seventhround pick. Sources told Shaper Waller, 32, was one of the league’s best tight ends in 2019 and 2020, which, you know, we already talked about how great those years So, um, now what’s interesting here is, look at this. Waller told people close to him that he missed football and was wanting to return for the love of the game. A source told ESPN’s Jordan Renan. This marks the second major trade in as many days for Chris Greer. Waller announced his retirement last June, saying that a health scare he experienced in November 2023 gave him clarity about his life. In a video posted to YouTube, Waller detailed a very scary situation during which he struggled to breathe and ultimately spent three and a half days in hospital unable to stand up, use the bathroom, or feed himself. Waller didn’t disclose the exact nature of the illness he battled. Waller has been open about his struggles with addiction, his sobriety, and how rehab following a 2017 overdose helped him turn around his life. He has vowed to use his story to help others. Listen, and again, look at this. He is familiar with Dolphins. Frank Smith. All right, so they gave up a sixth. Again, lowrisk, you know, potential reward. I won’t even say high reward. So, there we go. We got some clarity on everything. There it is. So, basically how this all works out over the last two days is this. All right. When you break it all down, the Miami Dolphins basically traded a sixthround pick, a seventh round pick, John Smith and Jaylen Ramsay. And in return, they got Oh, sorry, I meant sixth round pick, not fifth. And in return, they got a fifth round pick, a conditional seventh round pick, Minka Fitzpatrick, and Darren Waller. So, I mean, what do you guys think? Is that a W? Let me know in the chat if that’s a W for the Dolphins. All right. So, um, again, just to lay it all out for you so you guys know exactly what I’m talking about, the Miami Dolphins traded Jaylen Ramsay, John Smith, a sixthround pick and a seventh round pick for Ma Fitzpatrick, a fifthround pick and a conditional seventh round pick. You know, so basically, look at it this way, if you want to break it down, Jaylen Ramsay was traded along with a let’s put the seventh to him, you know, Jaylen and a seventh for Minka and then Jonnu for a fifth and then you turn around and you trade a sixth round pick for a conditional seventh and Darren Waller. So that conditional seventh, I mean, if you want to say look at it this way, they technically kind of paid the Dolphins to take the retired, you know, they did a pick swap basically for us to take Darren Waller off their hands. So, that’s that’s not too bad. Uh, you know, again, lowrisk potential reward to that. Over 540 of you in the chat. Smash that like button. If you’re new, go ahead and subscribe. Now, speaking a little further to Darren Waller in his retirement, there’s a video where circulating where he talks about when he realized he wanted to retire and the game he realized he wanted to retire in. Check this one out.
I don’t know if I’ve shared this with anybody, but I knew I was retiring when we played in Buffalo. The Giants we were playing there, it was a game where um it was really controversial because uh one of the guys held me at the end. They didn’t call it. It was in the first quarter of the game. We were running like this uh counter lead running play and I’m kind of like leading through the hole like I’m a fullback and the play is working. But I sit down on the sideline after like a drive where we ran like three times and I’m like what the [ __ ] am I doing with my life? I’m out here playing fullback. I don’t even want to do this anymore. And I’m just like looking at the moon. It’s like early first quarter, second quarter. Nobody else would really even know that I’m thinking this, but I’m on like, yep, I’m going to finish this year to the best of my ability, but I’m definitely done playing after this year. And that was the only time I played. So, you’ve got him sitting here saying on one hand that he realized he wanted to retire in the middle of a game in the first quarter with the New York Giants, but then on the flip side, after that ESPN article we just went over, you know, you’ve got him saying that he experienced a health scare in November 2023 and that’s what gave him clarity about his life. And that very situ scary situation is basically what led to him leaving. So we’re already hearing two sides of the story here, right? Like and I mean people are going to be here and saying what what do you believe? What do you know? Now let’s talk about this for okay you know mental health depression that that you know that is a real thing amongst athletes. We’ve seen Jaylen Phillips, right? He had to go get a confidence coach because, you know, where his mind was at and where his confidence was at under Flores was absolutely in the gutter, right? I talk about another player I talk about for all you hockey fans. If you remember Braden Holy, used to be a goalie for the Washington Capitals, right? Out of nowhere, he started doing this routine after he’d let in a goal where he would grab a water bottle and put it from the back of the net, turn around, squirt it up in the air, watch the watch the water go up in the air, and come back down. And that was his way of resetting his focus and his confidence so he could recover, right? You know, it people see these athletes and see the money they make and just automatically assume they’ve got everything easy in life and everything is just hunky dory and there’s no way to they could be unhappy when one of the old cliches is what you know money doesn’t solve everything right and especially when it comes to happiness right um and you know again this guy we We we just talked about he’s gone through a lot. You talk about the addiction he went through, you know, with the substance abuse that he recovered from and kudos to him. That shows how strong of a of of a mentally sharp man he can be, right? Um so, you know, you know, he dealt with divorce. 2023 was an up and down year for him, right? He dealt with divorce, right? He got married in 2023 and then in 2024, like a year later, they got divorced, right? Um, and now that he’s probably had time to sit at home, you know, really, they got divorced in what, April 2024. So, it’s been about a year for a little over a year for him. And now we hear that he’s missing football and he wants to get back to it. And another good sign is what Tom Pelisero said, right? All reports indicate that he told the Giants directly he wants to come out of retirement and only play for Miami. So, we know he wants to be here, right? Like that’s a positive to take away. There’s positives and there’s negatives to take away from this situation 110%. All right. And I I think right here where they’re at, apparently the deal is this new one-year deal is going to be adjusted contract worth up to $5 million. What’s also interesting here, too, is look at the Drew Rosenhouse connection. Look at the Drew Rosenhouse connection. Monday, they trade away John Smith, who’s a Drew Rosenhouse client. Tuesday, they bring a Drew Rosenhouse client out of retirement to fill a void. I mean, we talk about this all the time, right? Greer and the Dolphins don’t have the greatest greatest relationship at all with Athletes First, but they sure do got a good relationship for Drew Rosenhouse. And that makes you wonder how long they’ve been really talking with Darren Waller behind the scenes, right? If Darren Waller has been having that itch to come back to the game, you know, Frank Smith was probably one of the first people he talked about, right? This Jonnu stuff has been going on for a little while now. So, I’m wondering if when they knew this John stuff was going on, again, we were always kind of sitting here and I know people who really wanted John Smith to stay. I wanted John Smith to stay, but based off what we got yesterday, I mean, it is what it is. we weren’t giving him a 200% raise. I love that trade. I’ll do that trade, you know, seven days a week and twice on Sunday, you know, like that’s where I’m at with that. But I’m wondering if this is why they weren’t getting into that battle. And, you know, we talked about it. It felt like the whole time the Miami Dolphins, they felt like they had the whole leverage in the situation. We felt like this is why they were putting out the leaks about the potential deal with the Steelers, not once, but then twice after it died. The first time died down, they weren’t they knew in the back of their head, yo, Frank Smith has had discussions with Darren Waller. He wants to come back. We don’t value the tight end position. We gave Gaseki all that money how many years ago. What did that work out into? Nothing. You really think we’re about to go down that same route again when quite frankly, let’s be real here. 2022 and 2023, we’re a top three offense with Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Wadd, Achan, Moser being featured in this offense. 2024 where Tyreek’s banged up, Wadd’s banged up, and John Smith takes on a more of a featured role. We’re no longer that top three offense. So, they’re sitting there and looking. They’re like, “Yo, we need a contributor who can be a playmaker with the opportunities he get. We do not need a workhorse at that position.” So, not everything was working in John Smith’s favor here. The 200% raise, the realization that you can’t make tight end a focus in this tight end needs to be a safety outlet, not a featured target. and they realize that it’s just everything would seem to have been working against John Smith and him asking for all this money. Clearly, that’s exactly what happened. And there were just so many factors and they knew in the background we got Darren Waller. Now, I won’t argue you if you sit here and say, “Well, right now John Smith is a more proven commodity.” You’re 110% right. He’s coming off the greatest season in Miami Dolphins tight end history. We don’t know what Darren Waller is coming off the couch. We’re going to find out. But a one good thing we’ve got to discuss, and not enough people are discussing this, is we’re getting this done in July. We’ve got about three weeks, three and a half weeks until training camp opens up. It’s not like we’re doing this in the middle of the preeason, you know? Not like we’re doing this in August, right? We’re doing Now, would I have preferred this happen in probably June? 110%. But obviously, they wanted to figure out what was happening with Johnny Smith first. So again, Darren Waller and a conditional seventh round pick for a sixthround pick. It’s not like again lowrisk, high reward, potential high reward. And that that sixth round pick is in 2026 and that conditional seventh is in 2027. So basically a pick swap to take Darren Waller off the Giants hands. Shout out to Tom Pelisero for having the wrong info and making us look make me look bad earlier. Huh? I had to correct that. So again, the Dolphins, they get a conditional seventh round pick and Darren Waller for a 2026 sixth round pick. It’s It’s not that bad of a deal. It’s a matter of we are in flux because we wanted other options that are currently in the NFL, not retired, number one. But number two, we don’t know where he’s at. We’re hoping a year off has really refreshed his body and his mind. But you’re talking about a guy who in 2022 and 2023, his final two years, was battling a lot of hamstring stuff. And you know, you do the math, you were in your 30s. So what happened with X? started battling lower extremity issues in his 30s and look where he’s at now. I don’t think that’s why teams aren’t touching him. I think the reason why teams are staying away from Xavier Howard, I’ve said this before, is because of the incident of him sending pictures to that woman’s kid. I think that’s why teams aren’t touching that situation. So, I don’t know. I understand if you like the trade. I understand if you’re skeptical about the trade, I get it. I can see both sides. I think this is one of those trades where we’ll feel better about it once training camp starts up or we’ll feel worse about it once training camp starts up. Mink Fitzpatrick, man, how can you not feel good about that? I don’t care what a Steelers fan tries to tell me. I don’t. And to all the people that are saying, “Well, they should have drafted, you know, Tyler Warren.” No, no, you do not draft a tight end in the first round unless they’re generational. Brock Bowers. And I told each and every one of you that Darren Wall, that sorry, Tyler Warren wasn’t even the far and away number one tight end on the board. I kept telling people on Twitter and on here, y’all are forgetting about Coulson Lovelin and who was the first tight end off the board. And even deeper than that, what did I tell you? If you want to go a recency bias and that’s why we’re seeing tight ends go in the first round this year because of Brock Bowers, who’s the closer one to Brock Bowers? Coulson Lovelin or Tyler Warren? And it was Coulson Lovelin. I told you guys this. And who ended up being the first off the board? Coulson Lovelin. So, because they want guys who can’t just block, but can receive, but the Dolphins went out and got a guy who, yeah, you can use him in line, but he’s not the ideal why that Julian Hill and Pharaoh Brown, your roles are safe for now. All right. So, let’s hope Jaylen Conurs and can step up because I think he can offer us something, too. Guys, smash that like button. Subscribe if you are new. I’m going to get out of here. I appreciate each and every one of you for coming through. Happy candidate to all of you and I will catch you on the next one. Over 550 in the room. Love y’all. See you on the next one. Fins up all day, every day, baby.

On this episode of Phinside The NFL, Reason discusses the recent trade by the Miami Dolphins with the New York Giants to acquire recently retired tight end Darren Waller!

Was this a good deal for the Miami Dolphins?

Is this the better option than what could have been available on the trade market?

Plus, we’ll discuss much more!

PHINS UP! SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON!

Time Stamps:

0:00 – Opening

0:29 – Intro

1:37 – Thoughts On Being Torn About Today’s Trade, These Moves Encompass Chris Grier’s Tenure & More

4:09 – Breaking News! Miami Dolphins Trade For Tight End Darren Waller!

11:00 – Darren Waller Only Wanted To Play For The Miami Dolphins

22:41 – Details On The Compensation The Miami Dolphins Gave Up To The New York Giants For Darren Waller

28:17 – More Information On The Miami Dolphins Trading For Darren Waller

33:07 – Darren Waller Discussed When He Realized He Wanted To Retire

37:26 – Miami Dolphins Are Giving Darren Waller An Incentive Laden Deal

41:03 – The Benefits Of Acquiring Darren Waller Right Now For The Miami Dolphins

45:34 – Final Thoughts

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