Episode 552: Waller Mystery Solved? Tyreek, Tua, and More

Episode 552: Waller Mystery Solved? Tyreek, Tua, and More

And we’re off. Hi everyone. Welcome back episode 551 of the All Dolphins podcast for Wednesday, September 3rd, 2025. And finally, we have some answers to the great mystery involving tight end Darren Waller. We also have some questions involving not only him, but Tyreek Hill. Let me talk about all that. first injury report of the year to go comments in his weekly media session which were very interesting and anything else we can think of on this episode. Before we get going, as always, please like, share, subscribe, comment. Do it respectfully, please. And remember again, my pledge, my vow, my promise. We’re at 15.8 thou uh 15.8,000 subscribers. get to 20,000. This will be a dolphin hat. This will be a dolphin jersey for the first episode following reaching 20,000. As I did for those who are not clear on this, as I did uh when the Dolphins or sorry, when we reach 15,000 subscribers, I wore a Dolphins hat as I had promised. I’m a man of my word if nothing else. Um so that will be done. We’re got a little bit of work to get done before that happens, but let’s make it happen, right? Okay. So, as we said at the top, uh today was the day when the Dolphins released their first injury report of the 2025 season as required by NFL rules. And it certainly um was one that we waited with some anticipation why because we finally would get some answer as as to why the hell has Darren Waller been on such a limited schedule. uh limited as in very very little work. Again, practically nothing in terms of what we were able to see when the Dolphins were in training training camp mode. And then the Dolphins got into regular season mode and it still was very very little work even in the 20 minutes that the media is allowed to see. before practice on Wednesday. Mike McDaniel indicated that Darren Waller would not practice on uh Wednesday basically to not make him go three straight days, which immediately tells you right there, red flag, red flag, red flag, because this is week one. The Dolphins acquired him on July uh July 1st, I think, was the date of the trade with the New York Giants. and he hasn’t had one practice. And we asked kind of regularly about what’s going on. It was always about load management, getting back into football shape. Chris Greer was asked specifically point blank last week, is there an injury that Darren Waller’s dealing with, and he basically no, it’s about just again, but he kind of mentioned not trying to do too much and seeing how the body recovers now. Either the Dolphins were trying to protect him. Did he get injured in the last couple of days? You can draw your own conclusions. The bottom line is Darren Waller is dealing with some sort of hip issue that at the very least is limiting his participation in practice. Wednesday completely eliminated his participation in practice or andor is requiring treatment and again treatment plus not practicing on Wednesday. Tuatango Valo as I mentioned earlier held his weekly media session after practice and he was talking about Darren Waller and whether he’s been able to establish any sort of connection with him. It’s kind of difficult considering the dude hasn’t practiced. And he gave him his props talking about how engaged he’s been and asking questions of Tua uh while watching practice from the sides about what is he saying, what is he looking for his receivers to do. And then later on talking about, well, I don’t know how much he’s going to play and we’ll see how much he gets he gets in the game and all that. And the whole thing just again there’s been a weird vibe around Darren Waller from the time training camp started. Remember he started on PUP was activated after the team got back from the uh joint practices with Chicago and Detroit I want to say. Um but then again there’s been very little practice work at this point. Yeah, I think it’s probably on the lesser side of 50/50. He actually even plays in the opener against the Colts. And I know some Dolphin fans are already throwing out names like OBJ and Will Fuller. And is it going to be the same kind of situation? Too early to tell. Um, but again, it’s not necessarily a a a tremendous way for this particular marriage to to begin. I do want to point out, however, this notion that the Dolphin offense absolutely needs a tight end involved in the passing game to succeed, to which I say no. And for that, I’m going to point, I’ve said this before, but I actually looked up the numbers. The leading receiver among tight ends in uh 2022 was Mike Gaseiki. You remember who was playing in the franchise tag and he was basically frozen out of the passing game, wound up with 32 catches. That’s not a lot. That’s a very, very low number. And the Dolphin offense in 2022 was pretty good. Tyreek Hill at over 1,700 yards. The Dolphins wound up uh eight and three at one point. They stumbled a bit down the stretch and again partly because uh two was injured and Teddy Bridgewwater couldn’t stay healthy and then Skyler Thompson the Dolphins had to make some in-game quarterback changes even when they started a backup which is not conducive to winning. In 2023, the leading receiver among tight ends was Durham Smite with 35 catches. Again, a very, very low number. That’s the year where Tyreek Hill finished with 1799 yards. Dolphins were 11 and4 uh before it went south down the stretch. And I know some Dolphin fans were like, “Well, no, the offense because I called the offense pretty impressive in 2023 and I got some push back because the Dolphins offense faltered a bit down the stretch against better opposition.” Absolutely true. But the overall body of work, they were still number one in yards, number two in scoring. Tu led the NFL in passing yards. Tyreek led the NFL in receiving yards and Raheem Mo tied for the NFL lead in touchdowns. So if that’s not pretty impressive, I don’t know what is. If you’re looking for domination from week one through week 18, good luck with that. Then you’re talking 2007 Patriots. But then again, some folks may say, “No, the Patriots underachief because they didn’t perform in the Super Bowl.” Or, “This is like 2013 Denver Broncos again.” Or, “But then they lost in the Super Bowl.” So, I’m sorry, but there’s no this notion of being dominant on offense from week one through the end of the regular season into the playoffs is a little bit kind of ridiculous if you ask me. Um, but the fact remains the Dolphin offense was at its best in 2022 and 2023 when the tight end was not a major factor in the passing game. Unlike last year when Jonnu Smith set a franchise record for receptions and receiving yards for that position. Why? Because the Dolphins were not getting the ball down the field to Tyreek or Jaylen Wadd. So, there were an awful lot of checkdowns to Janu Smith and to Devon Chan. And that was great for John Smith and all that. it got paid good money from the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it may be that the Dolphins recognize that’s not where they’re going to be at their best on offense. Therefore, why should we commit those kinds of dollars to Janu Smith, who while a good quality receiving tight end, with all due respect, is not a difference maker uh at at the position. U and you can give me his numbers all you want. Still doesn’t make him a difference maker. He’s not George KD. He’s not Travis Kelce. He’s not uh Brock Bowers. He’s not trying to think of the really good tight ends in the NFL right now. That escapes me, but he’s not that kind of tight end. He’s a guy who’s going to get volume if you throw him the ball, but he’s not necessarily again somebody that other teams game plan for. So, would it be nice if the Dolphins were able to get some kind of contribution from Dan Waller in 2025? Absolutely. And the more options you have, the better. But it’s not like automatically you go offense doesn’t have a major receiving option at tight end. offense can’t succeed. Sorry, not buying that. Uh, and in the meantime, if Darren Waller does not play on Sunday, then you’d probably be looking at Tanner Connor joining Julian Hill, who was also on the injury report. However, listed as a full participant and understand that if you’re getting treatment for some sort of of injury or issue, you will wind up on the injury report even if you practice fully as Julian Hill did. In fact, the Dolphins had four players fit into that G category. Waller was one of three players who did not practice on Wednesday. The other two, no surprises there, is cornerback Ethan Bonner still dealing with a hamstring injury. And if you recall when it happened, Mike McDaniel told us it was going to be weeks, not days. Um, again, the the final determinations for game status won’t come out until Friday change from uh I don’t know 101 15 years ago when you actually you could rule out a player teams would rule out a player on Wednesday already which much better actually. No, I I I apologize. Teams would give a game status design, pardon me, game status designation Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So you would you would have players who would go from doubtful to questionable to off the injury report. You could go somebody from doubtful to doubtful to out. Uh now there is no game status designation until Friday. But for all intents and purposes, don’t count Ethan Bonner playing in the opener, which is not a big deal because if we’re going to be honest about it, I look at that quarterback room and there’s a clear top four. They have six quarterbacks on the roster. There is a clear top four uh who are Jack Jones, not necessarily Storm Duck, Jack Jones, Rousul Douglas, and Jason Marshall Jr. Then you have the newcomer Guju Brent claimed offers from the Annapolis Colts potentially facing his former team on Sunday. Also very possibly inactive if if the other four guys are healthy. And then you have Ethan Bonner who’s probably number six on the list. So, uh him being inactive, not a major issue for this particular game. The other player who did not practice was running back Jaylen Wright, who remember Mike McDaniel said was Septemberish uh because of the we believe it’s an it’s a knee. Let me double check here. Um that required a procedure which again means we’re going to have Devon Achan who uh appears on track to go ahead and play against the Colts. He was listed as a limited participant with his calf injury. And then you’re gonna have a rookie Ali Gordon too. And then more than likely we’re gonna be looking at um a practice squad elevation. The two options being Jamaichel Hasty and Jeff Wilson Jr. be very very surprised if the player elevated was not Jeff Wilson Jr. I know there there are some in the media who shall remain nameless who would just love it if the Dolphins w up signing rookie Damen Martinez from the University of Miami who’s a physical runner. And to that I’m going to use my same line. This is a guy who not only didn’t make the Seattle Seahawks initial 53man roster. They cut him from their practice squad. So going to have to ask yourselves and I’m going to have to ask myself that same question. Why was he cut from the practice squad? To me, it basically means stick with what you got. There are two veteran guys who have a history with Mike McDaniel, therefore familiar with the offense or much better option. So, those are the three guys who did not practice along with H and those listed as limited participants. And again, we got some more answers along with Darren Waller’s injury being a hip. We had safety Ashton Davis. So, we now found out his injury was to a calf. We knew you knew it was to the lower leg. It could have been toe, pardon me, foot, ankle. Turns out it’s a calf. Destridge is dealing with a concussion also limited. Uh Austin Jackson’s injury turned out it was a toe and he indicated uh to reporters earlier this week or was it late last week that he got stepped on during a practice that what kept him out of action for a few weeks? Uh he also was limited. And then the other one that’s also newsy and and I don’t want to be an alarmist because I know I’m I’ve been accused of being negative and all that, but it’s troubling to me that now Tyreek Hill not only is dealing with the oblique injury, but he’s also got a calf issue listed as a limited participant. Now, when did the calf occur? How significant is the calf compared to the oblique injury? We don’t know any of that. Tyreek Hill spoke to the media after practice, who generally is a good sign if it was something that um would be looking like not not great in terms of his availability for the game. Don’t know that he’d be out there doing media. So, the fact that he spoke certainly would be an encouraging sign. Four players were full participants, but still on the injury report. We mentioned uh Julian Hill being one of them. Another one was cornerback Storm Duck dealing with a hip injury. Another was safety Melifanu dealing with a hamstring injury. And finally, yet another safety Dante Trader Jr. also dealing with a hamstring injury injury. So, if you’re doing doing the count, that’s three Dolphin players, three Dolphin safeties on the injury report out of five on the roster. The other two being Minka Fitzpatrick and Elijah Campbell. Um, again, generally guys who are full participants in practice, not necessarily concerned about their availability, Ashen Davis will have to see. And then we get to the other side of it, which is the other team, the opponent, and holy smokes, it’s practically an empty injury report. They have one guy listed on there, and it’s a backup. That’s running back Tyler Goodson, who has an elbow injury, listed as a limited participant. So clearly um Dolphins coming out on the short end. And actually it’s interesting because I look back at this time last year on the first injury report of week one for last year. Dolphins had 13 players on their injury report. The Jacksonville Jaguars had one and didn’t stop the Dolphins from winning that game. Of course they won 2017. That was their fourth consecutive season opening win. Um it’s tied for the second longest streak in the NFL. the team with the longest streaks of the New Orleans Saints, they have six. And then on the other end of the spectrum, the Indianapolis Colts, the team the Dolphins are facing on Sunday, they’ve lost 11 in a row. Have not won a season opener since 2013. Uh whether that can change or that’s going to change on Sunday obviously remains to be seen. I think there’s a sort of a perception. We all know what the national media thinks of the Dolphins heading into the 2025 season and it’s not pretty. Uh, generally speaking, I don’t know that a ton of folks are expecting a whole lot from the Colts, but you look at their roster that is not a bad roster at all. Uh, there are some players there, particularly on defense, and you’ll have to forgive me if I’m losing my voice here. Apparently, I’m going through puberty or something. Uh, and we’re going to have to cut this short if it keeps happening. If I’m keep losing my voice, I don’t know exactly what’s going on. Um, and I mentioned the Colts roster not being bad at all. I mean, they have a couple of good pass rushers in Latu and Quiddyp Pay. Deorest Buckner is a very good defensive tackle. Uh, the secondary is very good in that. Xavier Howard right now is like a third option behind um Trevarious Ward and Kenny Moore um who’s the slot corner who’s a very very good player. Uh when I say he’s the third third option I would say right now it’s may probably the third most effective quarterback on that roster. Um so it’s not a terrible team. Obviously they have kind of a big major question mark at quarterback with Daniel Jones. And this is where I would encourage you to check out the previous episode of the old offense podcast with the behind enemy lines with um Steven Holder from ESPN was a very very good conversation. He, among other things, was absolutely raving. I mean, big- time, like this kind of raving about rookie tight end Tyler Warren, the 14th overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, taking one spot after the Dolphins took Kenneth Grant, the defensive tackle from Michigan. So we talked about uh the injury report to conducted his um weekly media session and probably the thing that stood out from there is basically he was asked about his relationship with Tyreek Hill and basically his answer was like it’s a non-issue it’s all done and then he basically said that thing might have been out blown out of proportion earlier to which I can’t help but think well you kind of suggested it was a work in progress and there was work that needed to be done. So, was it blown out of proportion? And if not, then why were those comments made? But the bottom line is not an issue. And then Tu said something that I’ve been saying all along is the first time Tyreek Hill scores a touchdown. And Tua mentioned it. Tyreek scores a touchdown touchdown on Sunday, nobody’s going to remember what happened. And it’s the truth. And we’ve said this before with Tyreek Hill. He did. He was not named a captain. There was no way he could be named a captain because again, you were the CU kind of representing the Dolphins. And if you haven’t noticed by now, the Dolphins are very much these days into projecting uh the notion that they are one and in stark contracts contrast to last year when they had some guys who maybe had a different agenda, maybe more personal agenda. This year it’s all about everybody together. And if you saw uh the premier episode of their series on YouTube last night, they kind of are going out of their way to show you they are together. They are a family. Everybody is working for each other and all that. So because of what happened at the end of last year with the incident during the game against the Jets and after the game against the Jets, again, I don’t know that there was any way that Tyreek Hill was going to be a captain. And as he said in the locker room after practice, um just because he’s a captain doesn’t mean he’s not going to lead. And you saw one of the clips from the YouTube video um produced by the Dolphins where he’s leading the charge uh before a drill and then after practice talking to Storm Duck. That’s his personality when they’re on the field. He’s going to do what is required and he’s going to he’s going to play the part of a of a leader. And if you recall for his his couple of first years when after he joined the Dolphins, this was somebody who was always, you know, backing up, supporting his quarterback and everybody on offense. And that was kind of leadership, team spirit, and all that. It didn’t just completely all disappear uh because of what happened last year against the Jets. And I know there are certain Dolphin fans are going to push back against this and say, “No, Dolphins should trade him, get rid of him, and all that.” I don’t think it’s that simple. And Tyreek Hill also this is and this is beyond the fact that he’s your best player and you’re the one most capable of impacting the game. Um it’s not as clearcut as you know because of what happened in January in early January. Tyreek should have been cut loose. No, I don’t I don’t think I don’t think it’s that way. And again, the other part of it too, he was featured in that YouTube video. So, if the Dolphins were in let’s get rid of him mode, I don’t know that they would have featured him all that much. And if you notice the guys who were featured beyond him and beyond Jaylen Wadd u throwing a couple gutter balls and then a strike while they when they were bowling, it was mostly the captains um in golden brewer, Jordan Brooks, Zack Cer, Tua and Bradley Chub. still make of that what you wish. Um, another interesting aspect of this particular game against the Colts is Dolphins are going to be facing Xavier Howard. Um, Tu was asked about him and again it’s quarterback versus quarterback versus corn nerve back. So, it’s not the same, but Tyreek Hill and Jay Wadd both uh were asked about X after practice. um both said they’re looking forward to going going up against him and Tari gave him his props as somebody who knows how to play the position. Question with Xavier Howard always was um these days where is he physically and in terms I know some Dolphin fans really wanted the team to resign him or at least bring him in for a workout and all that. I think when the Dolphins released him in the offseason of 2024 I think that that ship had sailed. It’s kind of like the Isaiah Isaiah win situations. Another guy a lot of Dolphin fans wanted to come see come back kind of think that ship is sailed and it’s some sometimes it’s just kind of agreed from both sides. Time to move on. It’s not with everybody. Dolphins did bring back Jeff Wilson Jr. after really kind of putting him on the back burner last year and then letting him leave as a free agent. He wound up with the San Francisco 49ers. wound up getting released. But again, this wasn’t the same situation where the ship had sailed, the ship had not sailed, and uh therefore he’s back. And there’s certain players like that you’ll see coming back to the same team several time. Isaiah Ford’s another one like that. Again, obviously we’re not talking about the same caliber of player as an Xavier Howard, but you get the drift. T also was like, what would constitute a good season and basically Super Bowl? And that’s the correct answer to give. I’m actually sure. I think this the answer you would get probably in all 32 NFL cities. Maybe New Orleans this year because I think it might be almost a laughable comment. No disrespect to the Saints, but that team has practically zero shot of winning a Super Bowl anytime anytime soon. But you ask any other self-respecting team, what else are they going to say? You know, that was that’s a good answer for any player to get. Um, Dolphins are going to be back at practice on Thursday. Oh, and going back to the Darren Waller situation. Obviously, Mike McDaniel more than likely is going to be asked. Um, what’s up with that? What’s the deal? However, McDaniel is not speaking to reporters on Thursday. Thursday is the coordinators plus a couple of assistant coaches. Obviously, we’ll be back here to chronicle what they have to say along with any news of the day. Um, and then the Dolphins will be back at practice. So, I that’s going to wrap it up. Um, again, as always, please like, subscribe, share, um, comment, all that good stuff. Remember, 20,000, this is becomes a dolphin hat, dolphin jersey for the the following episode. Uh, and then we’ll be back here tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your Wednesday. Thanks.

Miami Dolphins on SI Publisher Alain Poupart (@PoupartNFL) breaks down the first injury report of 2025 and what it means when it comes to Darren Waller and Tyreek Hill, the Tua weekly media session, and more. Make sure to follow Alain on Twitter at @PoupartNFL and Blusky at @alainpoupart.bsky.social, and read his stories (free content) on Miami Dolphins on SI at si.com/nfl/dolphins.