The Miami Dolphins are set to play in their first preseason game soon, but first, they will participate in a joint practice with the Chicago Bears. It looks like most of the players are ready to go, but there is one player whose status seems up in the air, even though he’s fully healthy. Darren Waller was traded to the Dolphins after retiring from football for a year, and head coach Mike McDaniel had a plan of bringing him along slowly.Now, it seems like things may get complicated as their first preseason game is coming up, and Waller hasn’t practiced.
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“It’s a little tricky because you’re bringing a guy back, and is his first practice a joint practice?” McDaniel said via Chris Perkins of the Sun Senitel. “So, it’s about a week, but it’s a little tricky in terms of what practice. We’ll feel our way through that, and you’re just trying to be smart with that.”
Waller has started the season on the PUP list, and it’s uncertain when the Dolphins will activate him so he can start practicing with the team. At the same time, Waller needs reps if he wants to be a factor on the team, and he won’t have many reps to do so.
Earlier in the week, assistant head coach and tight ends coach Jon Embree didn’t think that Waller would need much time to get acclimated to the offense.“The first thing that really impressed me about him is his ability to quickly grasp the offense,” Embree said via Alain Poupart of Sports Illustrated. “He has a pretty good grasp of the details initially starting out. That’s huge because that’ll allow us to do more with him and move him around in the formations and all that.
“And then just his range, his catch radius. Probably not since Tony [Gonzalez] or Jordan Cameron had a guy that has that kind of radius as far as catching the ball.”
Throughout Waller’s career, he has been one of the better tight ends in the league, with his best years coming when he was on the Las Vegas Raiders. It’s not certain if he’ll still be at that level, especially with him taking a year off from football, but many are interested in seeing.
Waller would be an upgrade for the Dolphins’ offense with them trading Jonnu Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers during the offseason.