{"id":132372,"date":"2025-06-15T17:40:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T17:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/132372\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T17:40:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T17:40:15","slug":"miami-dolphins-wide-receiver-jaylen-waddle-looks-to-improve-in-2025-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/132372\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle looks to improve in 2025 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2024 season did not pan out as anyone in the Miami Dolphins<\/a> organization hoped. The team struggled to score with an offense that never seemed to be in rhythm. Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who opened his career with three-straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons, saw his individual stats drop as Miami struggled to move the ball. He finished the 2024 season with just 744 yards on 58 receptions with two touchdowns, all well below his career averages. <\/p>\n

Last week, during the team\u2019s minicamp, Waddle met with the media. He was asked about using 2024 to motivate him for 2025. \u201cDefinitely not the year we wanted as a team. Definitely the year that I didn\u2019t want as an individual, but lucky for me, we get to go back, same quarterback, same head coach, OC and run it back. I think the foundation that we are setting here in OTAs is going to really help us in training camp and lead us to the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucky for me, we get to go back, same quarterback, same head coach, OC and run it back<\/p>\n

Head coach Mike McDaniel spoke about the growth and leadership of Waddle as he enters his fifth season in the league, and how the 2024 season impacted him. \u201cI think he\u2019s shown his teammates who he really is because I think one thing that you can\u2019t really minimize is from a receiver\u2019s perspective, having quarterbacks that you didn\u2019t even practice with in training camp; that\u2019s a difficult task, and the way he worked on his game during the season has transferred into what we need to see from him, from every player. Your best players have to show commitment to have growth in their game, and what I\u2019ve seen is he is I think understanding his role as a leader a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDaniel continued, \u201cHe\u2019s taken more ownership in the tonality of practice. When he feels a lull, he has no problem going over to the defense and starting some competitive vibes, let\u2019s just say. That\u2019s an important part of our team and what we\u2019re trying to do, is the best players have to strive to be better. And then when you do that, the trickle-down effect is real, the standard is set and everyone is approaching time with the team in a direction of making the whole football program better. So I think that\u2019s what he\u2019s been a direct part of and it\u2019s been awesome to see because everybody gets juiced when Waddle is juiced, and he\u2019s recognized that and gotten more juiced lately.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NFL:<\/p>\n

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Throughout the team\u2019s offseason training program period, including the organized team activities (OTAs) and minicamp, wide receiver Tyreek Hill was limited as he recovers from wrist surgery. Waddle benefited from the absence, seeing an increased target load throughout the on-field workouts. <\/p>\n

\u201cI approach it as any other day,\u201d Waddle said of practicing without Hill. \u201cI don\u2019t think it really matters so much of who\u2019s on the field, who\u2019s not on the field. Just go out there and work man. Approach it, I\u2019m trying to get better each and every day, trying to make the other side better each and every day. It\u2019s not really a different approach. I think our just overall offense approach this offseason has been pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waddle was asked about a recent press conference for the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>, where wide receiver Tee Higgins was asked about \u201cbeing the best number two wide receiver in the NFL\u201d and wide receiver Ja\u2019Marr Chase interrupted to say Higgins in not a number two – the Bengals just have two number ones. Waddle did not seem to care whether he is consider a two behind Hill as the one. \u201cI just got out there and do my job, man,\u201d Waddle stated. \u201cWhatever they ask me to do, I just go out there and do it and try to do it at a high level and consistent. I don\u2019t look at No. 1 or 2 \u2013 we\u2019ve got a lot of players that can make a lot of plays to try to get the ball to. So when they call my number, I just try to make a play.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDaniel looked toward statements like that from Waddle to continue to show his growth. The coach explained, \u201cI think therein proves who he is where he doesn\u2019t make it a thing because it wasn\u2019t. His game is growing and he is going to find ways to exceed each and every year as he knows to be the standard now. It\u2019s frustrating for teammates and people that would care about it to hear that; however, it\u2019s kind of like a badge of honor in that he doesn\u2019t see it that way, nor should he, and he\u2019s a secure player that is working on his craft and the returns on that, he knows with his life wisdom that the returns will be very favorable and it\u2019s not if but when.\u201d<\/p>\n

How can Waddle get his game back up to the levels it was during his first three seasons? McDaniel does not think it was only on Waddle\u2019s play, looking to what defenses did versus Miami last year, and the adjustments he and the coaching staff need to make to put the players in the best situation for each play. He explained, \u201cI think one of the things that was very clear is that defenses had spent their time figuring out how to make us perform in all facets. So to be two-dimensional in any way, shape or form, regardless of how adept we were at doing any sort of pass gam, I think that they showed us that we will have to earn our way out of that, and you can easily as a group. If you\u2019re trying to do it just with passing, it\u2019s going be difficult, close to impossible. It\u2019s got to be a totality and I think, really, it speaks to what we preach every day in terms of balance and run affecting pass and vice versa. The point was kind of proven last year so it\u2019s up to us to really lean into our overall philosophical beliefs anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

I feel like I\u2019m trying to move without the ball too much.<\/p>\n

Waddle, however, looks to his own play, focusing on things he can do better than what he did last year, saying, \u201cIt was a lot man. A lot after watching the film definitely. A lot of hand eye, I feel like I\u2019m trying to move without the ball too much. And just the simple things, just timing, getting smoother in and out of my routes. Pretty much that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sees an opportunity to get things right with the connection between himself and Waddle this offseason, especially with Hill slowed right now. \u201cWe\u2019re continuing to grow our chemistry with one another,\u201d the quarterback said at the start of minicamp last week. \u201cFor the past year, for the past two years, it\u2019s really been me and \u2018Reek\u2019 kind of getting on that same page. But if me and Waddle can get together and continue to make stride throughout these last few days of minicamp, I think it\u2019s going to lead into some pretty good things preparing us for training camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NFL:<\/p>\n

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

As for what Waddle envisions for himself this year, the wide receiver stated, \u201cJust to go about my days. Have the same approach every day, no matter the circumstances. Have the same approach every day \u2013 get the ball, don\u2019t get the ball, ups and downs. Just the same approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami will need Waddle to turn back into the deep-threat, explosive playmaker he was in the first three seasons of his career. The receiver seems to know he has work to do, while McDaniel and Tagovailoa know they have a big part in elevating Waddle\u2019s play. <\/p>\n

The growth and development of Waddle, and the Dolphins offense as a whole, will continue in late July as the team returns to training camp. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2024 season did not pan out as anyone in the Miami Dolphins organization hoped. The team struggled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,29,11905,723,10541,9216,216,251,2733,13765,2087,6,2732,2636,189,24,528,14701,2608],"class_list":{"0":"post-132372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-front-page","11":"tag-improve","12":"tag-in","13":"tag-jaylen","14":"tag-looks","15":"tag-miami","16":"tag-miami-dolphins","17":"tag-miami-dolphins-news","18":"tag-miami-dolphins-training-camp","19":"tag-miamidolphins","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-phinsider","22":"tag-receiver","23":"tag-season","24":"tag-the","25":"tag-to","26":"tag-waddle","27":"tag-wide"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114688611103051034","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}