At the break of July, Darren Waller was traded from the New York Giants to the Miami Dolphins, unretiring in the process.
Three months later and four weeks into the 2025 season, Waller made his Dolphins debut and his official return to the NFL playing ranks.
For the Dolphins, the wait was worth it, as Waller hauled in two touchdowns and secured Miami’s first win of the season, a 27-21 victory over the New York Jets on Monday night, with an onside kick recovery.
“It’s a lot to process,” said Waller, who had three receptions for 27 yards. “It’s exciting, very exciting, just to be out there, just the whole day. Little bit of fear, little bit of everything, you know? Because I haven’t really been practicing a ton, haven’t really done a lot with the team, so it’s like, alright, I’ve got to find a way to get back out there and get into a rhythm and just be somebody that this team can rely on and give this team a return on their investment.”
That investment aided mightily in the Dolphins winning their first game of the season.
Likely a surprising development to many, it wasn’t all that stunning to Waller’s new head coach Mike McDaniel.
“You don’t put in plays or have players play with the expectation of anything but their best,” McDaniel said. “I knew he was fully capable. I just didn’t want to overcook it.”
Waller, a 2020 Pro Bowler with the Las Vegas Raiders, played his first game since Jan. 7, 2024, with the Giants. Since joining the Fins, Waller had been a standard on the injury report with a hip ailment, with the team slowly acclimating him upon his return.
One game in, at least, the process worked out splendidly.
“Anytime you get the ball in your hands and you score twice, that shows us that you’re a viable option for us or you could be a viable option for us,” Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said. “That first touchdown, I can’t remember the last time I’ve thrown the ball to dang near the goalposts and somebody catches it like that. That’s the kind of guy that we have in Darren Waller.”