EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Every time Darren Waller ran a route in the early days of training camp, the same things happened. He’d break free and out-run his coverage, or he’d out-jump or out-muscle the defender for the ball. He caught everything thrown his way, and it didn’t matter who was on him.
If there’s someone capable of covering the 6-foot-6, 245-pound tight end, he didn’t appear to be on the Giants‘ roster.
The Giants sound like they’re not sure that person even exists in the league.
“He’s 6-6, 4.4 (speed), great hands, can run routes like a regular hideout — he pretty much can do everything,” Giants safety Xavier McKinney said. “Being as big as he is, you don’t see guys that big that can move like that. So, it makes him real special. It makes him a tough cover every time.”
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It actually makes him a little more than that, as far as the Giants are concerned. Waller — the prize of their offseason, acquired in a trade from the Las Vegas Raiders — has been one of the biggest stars of the summer so far. Every catch he makes thrills the crowd, and most of them leave his teammates in a state of shock and awe, too.
They can’t stop raving about him, and what he’s done — and will do — for their offense. He’s been described as a “monster,” a “locomotive,” “special,” a “unicorn,” a “problem,” and — most often — a “freak”. And that’s just a sample of what the Giants have said about their 30-year-old teammate who they think is going to change everything about what, for years, has been a very low-octane offensive team.
“Yeah, for sure,” said Giants receiver Darius Slayton. “Darren’s a locomotive rolling real fast. Ain’t nobody tackling that.”
“It’s crazy,” added receiver Parris Campbell. “Teams are going to try to double-team him. He’s just a freak of an athlete. He can line up anywhere. Having a guy like that, when a defense game plans for this team he’s going to be one of the guys at the top of the list. He’s going to be able to open things up for everyone.”
Of course, that’s what the Giants had in mind when they sent a third-round pick to the Raiders for Waller in March. They had a vision of the Travis Kelce-like numbers he put up in 2019-20 when he averaged 99 catches 1,171 yards and six touchdowns in those two seasons. It was his last fully healthy year, but even at age 30 they believed he could bounce back and regain his old form.
The early internal reviews suggest they may be right.
“That boy’s a monster,” said Giants receiver Sterling Shepard. “Did you see him go up and get that ball the other day? I was telling (quarterback Daniel Jones), ‘Man, look, that thing would’ve been sailing over my head.’ That boy Wall came out of nowhere!’ He’s a freak.”
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There are a lot of ways a “freak” like Waller can be used in an offensive scheme. But considering that Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka spent four years on Andy Reid’s staff in Kansas City, including his last two as passing game coordinator, it’s not hard to figure out the Giants’ plan. The prototype in the NFL for a dream tight end and how he’s used is Kelce, who outside of quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been the Chiefs’ biggest weapon.
And though neither Kafka nor Giants head coach Brian Daboll have said much about how exactly they intend to use Waller — or for anyone, for that matter — it’s pretty clear they think they’ve found a Kelce of their own.
“The thing with Kelce is nobody really knows how to cover him,” said an NFC scout who has done some advance work on the Chiefs in recent seasons. “And once you think you do, he adjusts and takes advantage of whatever you’re doing. And it’s not just the coaching. It’s him. It’s his intelligence and how he reads what’s happening with the defense. Sometimes all you can do is put a couple of guys near him and try to limit the damage. But then he finds a way to beat that, too.
“If they use Waller like that, it’s a game-changer for them. They’re similar. Or at least they were.”
One of the real dangers of Kelce, multiple league sources have said, is the way he appears to have the freedom to create his own routes, which sometimes makes it seem as if no two are the same. There are designed plays, of course, but thanks to his chemistry with Mahomes and his own football IQ, he has the ability to change on the fly and create open spaces.
Waller said that’s something Daboll and Kafka have encouraged him to do, too.
“It’s the way you may set up routes on a third-and-short situation to where the paper and the playbook may tell you, ‘Hey, you do this, and you run into this landmark and do this,’ but you can put your own little sauce on it and get open,” he said. “It’s encouraged as long as the fundamentals are there, and your knowledge of what the defense is doing, and your timing and the concept is there.”
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That could really make Waller a handful for opposing defenses. But that’s only if he continues to be the player he was — something many around the league are skeptical that he’ll be able to sustain at age 30 and after all the injuries he’s had the last two years. He suffered a sprained ankle in training camp in 2021 that lingered throughout the early part of the season, then later missed five games with a sprained knee. Then last year, he pulled a hamstring in camp and that lingered into the season and eventually landed him on injured reserve.
The result was Waller played in just 20 games the last two seasons and never really looked like his old self. But what the Giants are seeing now, reminds them of what Waller used to be. Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale remembered Waller from Baltimore, when he was a sixth-round receiver out of Georgia Tech battling to make the team, and making Martindale’s defense miserable.
“Yeah, it came back the other day in practice,” Martindale said with a laugh. “It’s like he’s eating peanuts off the top of people’s heads picking those balls up.”
Waller, of course, has been through a lot since then, including suspensions in 2016 and 2017 for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. He had to work hard to reclaim his NFL career. And now after two years of injuries and an unexpected trade, he knows he has to do it again.
So far, he looks like he’s on his way. He certainly has built up quite a fan club among his new teammates.
“He’s a unicorn player,” said Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger. “Watching him be able to do what he does, even at his age, it’s amazing. Definitely a lot of ‘wow’ moments with Darren.”
Waller said it’s been an “honor” to hear his teammates speak about him that way, even if he did try to make it all sound routine.
“I guess it’s just for my size and my weight and I guess the way that I run and the multitude of routes that I try to be comfortable running,” he said. “A lot of guys don’t necessarily do that.”
No, they don’t. There aren’t a lot of guys anywhere that can do what a healthy Waller seems capable of doing. And that’s exactly what the Giants are counting on this year.
Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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