Promising Dolphins Injury Update Just in Time

The Dolphins got some great news just before Sunday: Darren Waller has been activated off IR and will be playing against the Saints.

It’s no secret that, starting last year, Tua Tagovailoa began to rely heavily on his tight ends, with his wide receivers being the real losers in that scheme. Tua helped Jonnu Smith produce a career year- and then the Dolphins promptly shipped him off to Pittsburgh(where he hasn’t had much success), and they needed to replace him. Tua leaned on the tight end as a big-body receiver—something he has lacked throughout his career—and it worked out well. But the options were pretty limited in the offseason, until the Dolphins convinced Waller to come out of retirement. The NFL was laughing at the Dolphins for the signing, considering he hadn’t played a snap in over a year and his body was widely assumed to be no longer NFL-ready. Early on, it looked like the league might have been right. McDaniel kept giving cryptic explanations for why he wasn’t practicing during training camp, until it was finally revealed that he would begin the season on the sidelines.

But once he came back onto the field, he was surprisingly effective—to the disbelief of everyone, including myself—hauling in 5 for 78 yards against the Panthers and 3 for 27 yards against the Jets. Then the injury bug hit him again, leaving us all wondering if he would have been healthier had he not taken a year off from the game…

But no matter—he’s back again! Especially now with Tyreek Hill out for the season, Tua is certainly going to lean on him once more, particularly given how the Saints have struggled to defend tight ends this year (122 yards allowed a few weeks ago against the Panthers, 59 against TB, 91 against the Bears).

It might take him some time to find his groove again, but his performance this season gives us something to hang our hats on—and gives us another reason to be excited for tomorrow’s matchup.