Waller is a valuable piece to the Raiders’ offense, and there’s no reason for the Raiders to entertain the thought of moving on.
Although Las Vegas is spearheaded by a new general manager and head coach tandem, it never made sense for the team to entertain the thought of dealing Waller.
One of the aspects Josh McDaniels is most noted for is his work with tight ends, which has been nothing short of outstanding throughout his time as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator. His work with tight ends has been so highly regarded, in fact, that Waller himself touched on it last week in an interview with Aryanna Prasad.
It’s easy to say McDaniels had tight ends such as Hunter Henry and Rob Gronkowski to work with, so of course, there will be some notable success there. With an elite talent like Darren Waller, that only backs the argument of exactly why keeping Waller around would entice McDaniels.
Since becoming the full-time starter in 2019, Waller has posted back-to-back 1,000+ receiving yard seasons, except for last year, where the 6’6 tight end missed six contests. With his 60.5 yards per game in ’21, he was still on pace to break that 1,000-yard mark.
In this time, Waller has been one of the elite-tier tight ends, building an enormous amount of trust with quarterback Derek Carr. In the opening game against Baltimore last season, Carr proved his trust in Waller, targeting the Georgia Tech alum 19 times.
Raiders 2022 NFL Mock Draft: Reloading the offensive line and more
Barring a trade, the Las Vegas Raiders can retool their offensive line on Days 2 and 3 of the NFL Draft in a few days, and then some.
Waller is the type of player you don’t look to trade away, especially with two years remaining on his current contract. The Las Vegas Raiders know that better than anyone, which is why there was never any plan to move on from their star tight end.