MIAMI GARDENS — Maybe this was just meant to be. Darren Waller, a man who once thought he was done with football, realized he still had something to offer the game.
He was a tight end in need of a team, so he called his agent.
And it just so happened that Drew Rosenhaus knew of a team in need of a tight end.
That’s how the pieces started coming together, but that’s only a slice of this story.
Darren Waller isn’t shy about sharing the other part. He’s open about a past that includes abusing alcohol and drugs, but he’ll also tell you how the road to sobriety made him a better, stronger person than ever — and never mind the Pro Bowl era in which he was unstoppable.
Yes, Waller and the Dolphins were indeed a match.
“I had a lot of positive thoughts,” coach Mike McDaniel said in his first comments on the signing as training camp opened. “I was very happy. Just because I know a lot more.”
Specifically?
“I couldn’t be happier to have a guy that just walks in the door as a daily inspiration, because a lot of people have problems. He’s shared problems we’re not talking about in a press conference. A lot of people hide from things. He doesn’t.”
Left unsaid was that McDaniel, too, faced challenges on the road to sobriety, and he, too, has openly discussed them since arriving in Miami. Sentimentality has no place in constructing an NFL roster. But a coach understanding his players does.
It turns out that if any coach played a significant role in bringing Waller to Miami, it was offensive coordinator Frank Smith. He was an assistant on the Raiders in 2018 who helped Waller blossom from a Baltimore Ravens cast-off into a star who for two seasons befuddled defenses. Waller had wide-receiver speed that linebackers couldn’t match, yet at 6-feet-6 and 238 pounds, he could shake off defensive backs.
“Frank is my guy, man,” Waller said. “When I got claimed off the Ravens’ practice squad in 2018, I got to the Raiders and he was my tight ends coach. Met me at the door and one of the first things he was interested in was what do I need as a man in my newfound sobriety, whatever I need to just be solid as a human being, and that struck me a lot.”
Darren Waller goes from suspension to Pro Bowl
Waller had just served a seasonlong suspension for failing multiple drug tests. One year after meeting Smith, Waller was embarking on back-to-back 1,100-yard seasons, totaling 197 receptions and 12 touchdowns.
That’s the kind of player the New York Giants hoped they were getting when they traded for him in 2023. Instead, Waller had 552 yards and one touchdown.
And retired.
If that sets off warning bells that Waller may be a poor replacement for Jonnu Smith, it’s understandable. Players don’t walk away from the NFL for no reason. Some come back strong. Many do not.
“I also felt like this was a good opportunity for me to – if this is my last chapter playing football, to close it in a way that’s different than I did before and one that allows me to tap into the joy of why I started doing it in the first place,” Waller said.
Waller said he didn’t watch much football while out of the league in 2024. He devoted himself to “things I needed to work on” as a person, which, the Dolphins were happy to find out, included a devotion to working out. He traveled. He’s a rap artist whose music is personal.
Title of his 2021 album: “Delusions of Clarity.”
His 2023 album: “Walking Miracle.”
“What you mean I ain’t the one?” he asks on his 2025 single, “Top Play.” “Every time I ran a route they had the whole (bleeping) team on me.”
Will he warrant that kind of attention as a Dolphin? Tyreek Hill would love that. First, Waller must prove he’s closer to the Raiders version of himself than the Giants version. Doing that requires answering that overarching question of drive. Perhaps Waller’s response is contained in “Sweep,” a new single recorded with ex-Dolphin Terron Armstead and ex-Jaguar DJ Chark.
“They call it lucky,” Waller says in the song. “I give it my all every day of the week.”
Waller inspired a young Alec Ingold
Dolphins fullback and captain Alec Ingold was a teammate of Waller’s on the Raiders. Meeting with reporters just before Waller, Ingold said he was “so excited for you guys to meet him,” describing Waller as unique.
“I remember my rookie year, the rookies come in and you have a symposium,” Ingold said. “And he shared his story. He was two, three years in the league and the amount of vulnerability like that was something where I knew if I were ever in a leadership position, I wanted to be like Darren Waller. He impacted our lives so much from that one conversation.”
Minutes later, standing at a podium in a news conference, Waller faced what can be a stiff setting. He wouldn’t let it become one, smiling throughout and never flinching, whether the subject was football or sobriety.
“I feel like for me to be as effective of a football player I can be, I need to be sober in all ways,” he said. “Sober emotionally and continuing to do what brought me here. Continuing to put my recovery first, continuing to read, continuing to keep a creative flow with the things I like to do.
“I feel like all those things work in balance to allow me to approach the game with a full cup, a lot to give. I’m not coming here for what I can gain but what I can give to this team, what I can give to the fans, what I can give to whoever is tuning in and maybe look for inspiration from somebody.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Dolphins, Mike McDaniel inspired by Darren Waller’s story of sobriety | Habib
Reporting by Hal Habib, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
