![\"Darren](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2240629417-e1775815963981.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Miami Dolphins tight end Darren Waller. <\/p>\n
The Baltimore Ravens<\/a> need another reliable tight end behind veteran Mark Andrews<\/a>. They had 2 of them in 2025 with Isaiah Likely<\/a> and Charlie Kolar<\/a>, who both left for lucrative free-agent deals elsewhere.<\/p>\n While Ravens fans seem most inclined toward free agent tight end David Njoku<\/a>, there might be a better option out there.<\/p>\n Sports Illustrated\u2019s Jason La Canfora<\/a> listed Miami Dolphins<\/a> tight end and former Pro Bowler Darren Waller<\/a> as the \u201cBest Fit\u201d for the Ravens if they want to pursue the position in free agency.<\/p>\n Waller, 6-foot-6 and 238 pounds, returned to the NFL<\/a> in 2025 after sitting out all of 2024, and proved to be incredibly effective with 24 receptions for 283 yards and 6 touchdowns in just 9 games with 6 starts.<\/p>\n \u201c(Waller) didn\u2019t unretire like three times to end up signing with some scrub team like the Giants<\/a> and Dolphins teams he was spinning his wheels with,\u201d La Canfora wrote. \u201cHe still has more big-play ability at this stage than Mark Andrews and won\u2019t cost you close to the $13M they overpaid to extend Andrews at a mind-numbing time.\u00a0After being one that got away\u00a0given how he left Baltimore in the first place, it would be a cool circle closing to grab him at the end of his career. Instead of wasting more money on overpaid wide receivers at the very end, Waller can be that veteran presence and voice of reason, and with him overcoming addiction and achieving what he has, he\u2019d be a strong presence given how inexperienced this coaching staff is.\u201d<\/p>\n Darren Waller\u2019s Strange Path to NFL Stardom<\/p>\n Waller made a bizarre decision to retire and launch a music career following the 2023 season, but returned to the NFL in 2025, when the Dolphins traded a 2026 6th round pick to the New York Giants<\/a> for Waller and a 2027 7th round pick.<\/p>\n The path to NFL stardom for Waller actually began with some pretty tough lessons in Baltimore, where he was a 6th round pick (No. 204 overall) out of Georgia Tech in the 2015 NFL draft<\/a> \u2014 back when Waller was still a wide receiver.<\/p>\n Waller played 6 games as a rookie before ending the season on injured reserve, then switched to tight end in 2016 but was suspended for the 1st 4 games of the season for violating the league\u2019s substance-abuse policy.<\/p>\n He violated the league\u2019s substance-abuse policy again shortly after and was suspended for the entire 2017 season and released in August 2018. The Ravens signed him to the practice squad but didn\u2019t play him in 2018, and he eventually wound up with the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, where he played 4 games that season before putting up consecutive 1,100-yard receiving seasons in 2019 and 2020.<\/p>\n Waller earned his lone career Pro Bowl selection in 2020.<\/p>\n Raiders Made Waller NFL\u2019s Highest-Paid TE<\/p>\n After Waller put up 55 receptions for 665 yards and 2 touchdowns in 11 games in 2021, the Raiders made him the highest-paid tight end in NFL history with a 3-year, $51 milion contract extension in September 2022.<\/p>\n After playing just 9 games due to injuries in 2022, the Raiders traded him to the New York Giants<\/a> just 6 months after he signed his new deal.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, Darren was a big part of what our plan was, obviously by the contract he signed,\u201d Raiders owner Mark Davis told ESPN<\/a>. \u201cThings didn\u2019t work out last year, just based on health. You know, we didn\u2019t quite get the Darren Waller that could have really helped us even more.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Ravens\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Miami Dolphins tight end Darren Waller. The Baltimore Ravens need another reliable tight end behind veteran Mark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,216,251,2087,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-863101","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-miami","11":"tag-miami-dolphins","12":"tag-miamidolphins","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116380235387287142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863101","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=863101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}