Last season featured the first full-time starting opportunity Las Vegas Raiders tight end Darren Waller received in his NFL career. Previously, he had played wide receiver exclusively at his alma mater of Georgia Tech and from there he went on to play one more season on the outside as part of the Baltimore Ravens.
Soon thereafter, he was moved to tight end but Waller never saw any consistent action while being apart of the Ravens organization. The Raiders scooped him up late into the 2018 season but he still only saw six targets during the four games in which he played in.
His 2019 campaign came with much larger expectations than he’s ever seen since breaking into the NFL in 2015. Jon Gruden clearly knew he had something special in Waller as he let the team’s 2018 leading pass-catcher in Jared Cook hit the free-agent market and sign elsewhere.
In 2019, Waller took the starting job head-on — leading the Raiders with 90 receptions and 1,145 receiving yards. It didn’t take long for the Gruden and Mike Mayock to lock up their new offensive weapon, giving the converted receiver a four year, $29.8 million contract, shortly after seeing him start just two games.
Waller went on to average 12.7 yards per reception, solidifying himself as Derek Carr’s most dependable option for the vast majority of last season.
Here is more on how Waller can improve moving forward:
