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TE Darren Waller, NYG (6 Viewers)

tombonneau said:
Nice stat line to wake up to. Especially with opponent playing Ekeler who basically had a floor game. 
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Yes, it was a monster game, but inexplicably, they didn’t go to him in OT. Three plays inside the 5 and they didn’t try to get him the ball. Mystifying!!

For those of us that survive this week, he has a brutal matchup against the Dolphins next week. That said, Marriota’s running ability and tendency to look Waller’s way should be helpful 

 
FGITLOTR said:
Yes, it was a monster game, but inexplicably, they didn’t go to him in OT. Three plays inside the 5 and they didn’t try to get him the ball. Mystifying!!

For those of us that survive this week, he has a brutal matchup against the Dolphins next week. That said, Marriota’s running ability and tendency to look Waller’s way should be helpful 
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Is Carr out most likely next week? 

 
Darren Waller caught 5-of-6 targets for 112 yards in the Raiders' Week 16 loss to the Dolphins. 

Four of Wallers' five receptions went for at least 19 yards. Most of his long catches came on tight matchups with a single cornerback who Waller was simply able to beat at the point of the catch. That's now three games with over 100 yards in his previous four contests. Waller also blasted past 1,000 receiving yards on the season with his big day against the Dolphins. He is two catches away from 100 receptions on the year and should be able to hit that mark within a few minutes of his Week 17 matchup against Buffalo. He remains the TE2 for the final week of the regular season. 

Dec 26, 2020, 11:44 PM ET
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The Athletic's Vic Tafur said Darren Waller "will surely top last year’s 1,196 yards as he continues to get better" in 2021. 

Tafur pointed to the presence of speedster Henry Ruggs as a key to Waller's success in the Vegas offense. Ruggs took the top off of opposing secondaries in 2020, clearing the middle of the field for Waller, who dominated defenders on his way to 107 receptions, 1,196 yards, and nine touchdowns. Waller had two more receptions and 220 fewer yards than Travis Kelce. A bigger statistical season for Waller could put him in the running for the overall TE1 in fantasy football this year. 

SOURCE: The Athletic 

Jun 22, 2021, 8:23 AM ET
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Dinsy Ejotuz said:
He came into the league as a 238(?) pound WR and was suspended for four games and then an entire year.

So the TE thing is a new idea and this is his first go with it.

Fairly high risk of injury (weight gain, still on the leaner side for a TE) or suspension (c.f. Josh Gordon), but the upside is there (physical profile is similar to Olsen at 255) and the noise out of camp has been loud and consistent.  I'm buying at the current prices.
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Blind squirrels and etc.

 
Thank you, Hard Knocks...  Hadn't heard much about Waller before this season aired, and the spotlight allowed me to grab him late in a startup dyno.  Needless to say the returns have been fantastic.  Carr gets skittish early which makes Waller often his first and only look.  Waller is smooth, but plays with a bit less toughness than say a Kittle, or even Kelce, but, he has sneaky long speed that helps him get past DB's for long gains.  He is, and may be, the Raiders main weapon for the foreseeable future.

 
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HW_53 said:
Thank you, Hard Knocks...  Hadn't heard much about Waller before this season aired, and the spotlight allowed me to grab him late in a startup dyno.  Needless to say the returns have been fantastic.  Carr gets skittish early which makes Waller often his first and only look.  Waller is smooth, but plays with a bit less toughness than say a Kittle, or even Kelce, but, he has sneaky long speed that helps him get past DB's for long gains.  He is, and may be, the Raiders main weapon for the foreseeable future.
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Agreed he’s not quite the hoss that little and Kelce are (as a converted wideout I’m not surprised) but I recall seeing him get blasted and shake it off a few times and think he plays materially tougher than a graham type. In general I was relatively impressed there 

 
HW_53 said:
He is, and may be, the Raiders main weapon for the foreseeable future.
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Waller is a very good receiving TE but the lack of competition for targets makes him really attractive.   Seems easy to assume that Waller will receive the most targets on the team.  

 
Is he really the #2 TE in dynasty? I know I wouldn't deal him straight up for a 32-year-old Kelce. Maybe second-best for 2021 but long-term I think Waller could have an upcoming three-year stretch as the TE1.

 
tombonneau said:
Is he really the #2 TE in dynasty? I know I wouldn't deal him straight up for a 32-year-old Kelce. Maybe second-best for 2021 but long-term I think Waller could have an upcoming three-year stretch as the TE1.
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I would have assumed Kittle.

 
Ilov80s said:
You could make a debate there. Pros for Waller are he has less of an injury history and less competition for targets for now. Pros for Kittle are he's a year younger. 
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I agree.  Kittle is an incredible talent but because he's such a willing, all-out player who sacrifices his body, both as a receiver and a blocker, he's more of an injury concern.  Beyond that, you have Deebo and Aiyuk there competing for targets on a team that doesn't love to throw a ton (they threw a bit more out of necessity last year but don't think it's their preference) and that could be the case even more with Lance.  I will say that Deebo and Aiyuk haven't shown a great ability to stay healthy, either (granted, limited sample size) and there's very little behind them so if any of Kittle, Aiyuk or Deebo gets hurt, it could really boost that value of the other two. But that's an aside - I love Kittle as a player but don't think he's going to see the 136 targets he got in 2018.  

Waller is the clear-cut #1 target on his team and Carr looks to him at every level of the field, almost to a fault.  Carr is going to force-feed the ball to Waller no matter what and I think he could certainly repeat the 145 targets he got last year.

They both have very high floors but I think Waller has more ceiling than Kittle does.

 
TS Garp said:
I agree.  Kittle is an incredible talent but because he's such a willing, all-out player who sacrifices his body, both as a receiver and a blocker, he's more of an injury concern.  Beyond that, you have Deebo and Aiyuk there competing for targets on a team that doesn't love to throw a ton (they threw a bit more out of necessity last year but don't think it's their preference) and that could be the case even more with Lance.  I will say that Deebo and Aiyuk haven't shown a great ability to stay healthy, either (granted, limited sample size) and there's very little behind them so if any of Kittle, Aiyuk or Deebo gets hurt, it could really boost that value of the other two. But that's an aside - I love Kittle as a player but don't think he's going to see the 136 targets he got in 2018.  

Waller is the clear-cut #1 target on his team and Carr looks to him at every level of the field, almost to a fault.  Carr is going to force-feed the ball to Waller no matter what and I think he could certainly repeat the 145 targets he got last year.

They both have very high floors but I think Waller has more ceiling than Kittle does.
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Yep, saw a stat on Twittter for which players were the first read in the highest % of passing plays. First was not surprisingly Davante Adams. Second was Waller. Part of the huge appeal of Kittle 2 years ago when he was at peak value was that he was the focal point of the passing game. Obviously that’s changed.

 
Faust said:
Dressed to Regress: Darren Waller (2021 Fantasy Football)
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Thanks as always for the links, GB :thumbup:  

Gotta say this is some lazy article writing... perhaps just a scheduled clickbait piece? 
 

TLDR:
1) He had a ton of volume, that will regress (without providing any real roster/gameplan related reason why)

2) Touchdowns will go down.. while admitting his TD rate is league average and sustainable... back to the claim volume is going down. 

3) Consistency Concerns - Except he was relatively consistent. Something clicked in the player/system a bit after midseason and his stats surged. 
 

Waller is no lock to repeat, but there's not really any glaring reasons why volume would regress.. and absent a regression in volume there's no real reason to expect a regression in fantasy output. 

 
Darren Waller has missed three consecutive practices for an undisclosed reason. 

Vegas beat writers couldn't say why Waller had missed practice this week. Head coach Jon Gruden is scheduled to speak to the media Saturday, according to The Athletic's Vic Tafur. For now, there's no reason to think Waller is dealing with a serious injury. The second tight end off the draft board, Waller once again has massive upside as Derek Carr's No. 1 target. Tafur in June said Waller has improved this offseason and "will surely top" his 2020 production in 2021. 

SOURCE: Vic Tafur on Twitter 

Aug 6, 2021, 10:58 AM ET
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Darren Waller caught 10-of-19 targets for 105 yards and one touchdown in the Raiders' Week 1 win over the Ravens.

Waller's 19 targets marked a new career-high, but things got off to a pretty slow start for him, catching just four of his first 12 targets, sprinkling in a couple drops or ones he'd like to have back. Overall, Waller was targeted on 19 of Derek Carr's 56 throws (33.9% share) and found the end zone with a sweet spin move at the goal line from 10 yards out in the fourth quarter. Waller picked up right where he left off last season as Carr's far-and-away No. 1 pass-game option. He's neck-and-neck with Travis Kelce as fantasy's top tight end ahead of a Week 2 date with the Steelers.
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Some really bad throws and drops in those 19 targets last night. Could have had a huge stat line. 

 
Darren Waller caught 5-of-7 targets for 54 yards in Las Vegas' Week 3 overtime win against Miami.

It's odd to consider Waller's performance a letdown since he registered back-to-back games with seven targets, but that's the perception a 19-target game creates. At one point, Derek Carr also sailed Waller's only real scoring opportunity over his head in the back of the end zone. With 33 targets through three games, Waller will still be considered a matchup-proof top-three option at his position next week against Derwin James and the Chargers.
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Darren Waller caught 4-of-7 targets for 50 yards and one touchdown in the Raiders' Week 4 loss to the Chargers.

Waller's first catch went for 21 yards and was easily the Raiders' biggest play of the first half when Derek Carr produced just 52 yards in the first 30 minutes. But Waller's monster catch was a three-yard Randy Moss-like grab over the top of S Nasir Adderley in the third quarter to pull the Raiders within seven at 21-14. It was Waller's first touchdown since Week 1. After his 19-target opener, Waller has seen exactly seven targets in three straight games. He'll be a top-five TE1 next week against the Bears.

Oct 5, 2021, 12:22 AM ET
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I don't know if it is because Waller got 19 targets week 1, but every game I expect more than what he has done the last 3 weeks. He saved me from losing this week after duds from Carlson and Dalvin Cook, but still disappointed regardless of the nice TD catch. I wish he had a more prolific QB throwing to him, some of the throws/decisions Carr makes is so frustrating. 

 
Timmay said:
I don't know if it is because Waller got 19 targets week 1, but every game I expect more than what he has done the last 3 weeks. He saved me from losing this week after duds from Carlson and Dalvin Cook, but still disappointed regardless of the nice TD catch. I wish he had a more prolific QB throwing to him, some of the throws/decisions Carr makes is so frustrating. 
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Right there with you on this. Honestly, the fact that they don't scheme up at least 9-10 targets for this guy weekly is coaching malpractice. The hope here is that now that Carr got punched in the mouth and has come back to earth a bit, maybe he'll go back to relying on his old binkie and feed Waller more going forward.

 
Johnny Utah #9 said:
Right there with you on this. Honestly, the fact that they don't scheme up at least 9-10 targets for this guy weekly is coaching malpractice. The hope here is that now that Carr got punched in the mouth and has come back to earth a bit, maybe he'll go back to relying on his old binkie and feed Waller more going forward.
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Waller is such an advantage at TE. How can the Raiders not script him open when everyone sees Kelce do his thing week after week? SF the same, Kittle is a monster and yet they can't seem to get him open either.

 
Getting Ruggs going is the key. Renfrow doesn't affect Waller much, but Ruggs can. He's starting to come on, but Carr can't miss him for the TD like he did this week.

Forget Edwards. Never saw the attraction as an FF WR (& hasn't shown much as an NFL WR, either). Neither has Ruggs, but he's finally starting to show some life. I believe he can eventually be a force if Carr has the arm to support him.

Ruggs can open up things for Waller. Can't really complain, though, can we (as Baller Waller owners)?

 
Just popped up as questionable on my yahoo app. Which is weird because I’ve rarely seen those statuses change late at night.

 
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