Remember Darren Waller? The former Pro Bowl tight end retired from the NFL prior to the 2024 campaign and took a year away from the league before returning to the league ahead of 2025. A preseason trade sent him to the Miami Dolphins, and while he didn’t make his debut until Week 4 due to injury, he made a statement in his first game back at the pro level in over a year. After a strong showing with multiple touchdowns and a void left in the team’s offense with Tyreek Hill having torn his ACL, is Darren Waller the top fantasy football waiver wire pickup of Week 5?
Analysis
Darren Waller burst onto the scene way back in 2019 way 13.8 FPPG in PPR formats as a member of the Raiders. He stepped up his game in the following year with 17.4 FPPG in 2020, but his last true fantasy-relevant season came in 2021. During that campaign, Waller played just 11 games due to injury but averaged 12.1 FPPG, catching 55 of his 93 targets for 665 yards and a pair of touchdowns. However, things took a nosedive shortly after.
In 2022, Waller appeared in only nine contests. He caught only 28 balls and averaged just 9.4 FPPG, eventually nearly being cut from the team before a trade sent him to the Giants. The hype train took off since he was expected to serve as the team’s top target, but fantasy success didn’t come with the change of scenery. Waller again averaged 9.4 FPPG with 52 catches for 552 yards and one touchdown in his 12 games. With injuries taking a toll on his body, he stepped away from the game of football and didn’t return for the 2024 season.
Once he decided to make an NFL comeback, some fantasy players bought in on the name value when the Dolphins acquired Waller. As a possible red-zone threat in an offense which just turned Jonnu Smith into a fantasy-viable play last season, glimmers of upside shined through. However, few players ever return at the same level once they re-enter the NFL following a year away, and he was expected to take some time to reacclimate himself to game speed. Waller didn’t even really get the chance to do so after suffering a hip injury that sidelined him for the first three weeks of the season, keeping him on the waiver wire in most fantasy leagues.
When he finally made his season debut on Monday Night Football in Week 4, the veteran showed unexpected promise. He saw just four targets, but caught three of them for 27 yards and two touchdowns en route to a Dolphins win over the AFC East foe New York Jets. The yardage total wasn’t much to write home about, but the 17.7 PPR points Waller posted slotted him in as the TE4 on the week… on a snap share of just 28%. Now, will the 33-year-old replicate that performance on a weekly basis? That outcome remains unlikely, but he showed an ability to work as a primary target and his snaps should increase as he continues to ramp back up from his injury and the obvious layoff. He probably won’t ever play 90% of snaps, but a reasonable share around 60% does feel realistic.
With Tyreek Hill now sidelined for the remainder of the season, there’s a noticeable void left behind in the offense. Fantasy managers can expect Jaylen Waddle to step up as the lead receiver and Malik Washington does hold some sleeper upside, but Waller could actually become a target-earner for Tua Tagovailoa simply due to the situation around him. While the Dolphins aren’t a good team as things currently stand, the offense does seem capable of posting respectable performances and a poor defense means greater pass volume as Miami plays from behind. With that in mind, fantasy players can do far worse than adding Waller on the waiver wire in Week 5 and pencil him in for low-end TE1 upside.
