Getty Former Raiders TE Darren Waller.
The last year of Darren Waller’s tenure with the Las Vegas Raiders was odd. He quickly became one of the faces of the franchise in 2019 and was a fan favorite all around the league due to his story of perseverance. He was rewarded with a three-year contract extension last offseason that made him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL.
Less than a year later, Waller was traded to the New York Giants for just a third-round draft pick. It was a surprising development and more information has been leaking out. Vic Tafur of The Athletic reported that Waller was upset about head coach Josh McDaniels accidentally leaking the news of his wedding to Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum to the media.
Former Raiders executive and father of offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi Michael Lombardi later dropped some info on the “The GM Shuffle” podcast saying that Waller ditched the team on the bye week during the 2022 season when he was supposed to show up. The tight end has confirmed these reports but gave greater context to what exactly went down.
“I wanted to keep completely private from the team and I told him,” Waller said on the March 23 episode of the “AP Pro Football” podcast. “So the Thursday through Sunday that we’re mandated to get off by the league, that was when I proposed to Kelsey. So I was going there and didn’t really want to share with anyone. I was like ‘yeah, I’m just going here and that’s where I’m going to be because you’re mandated to get off Thursday through Sunday. That’s what I did and I eventually told Josh and that’s how he knew and was able to by mistake tell the reporters that my wedding was happening. But I want to keep it ultimately private, so that’s why I didn’t tell where I was going.”
New #Giants TE Darren Waller went home during #Raiders bye week to propose to Las Vegas #Aces star Kelsey Plum. Listen to the full interview on the AP Pro Football Podcast:
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Raiders Likely Just Wanted to Get Younger
There’s been a lot of talk about why the Raiders wanted to move on from Waller and there are suggestions that he wasn’t a culture fit. However, every indication has been that Waller is a hard worker and a good teammate. There’s no reason to believe that he wasn’t willing to put in the necessary work to thrive in McDaniels’ offense.
The Raiders likely just wanted to get younger at the position. Waller will be 31 when the season starts, has missed 14 games over the past two seasons and is really expensive. Las Vegas already has a lot of money tied up in other players on offense and clearly thought Waller was the most expendable piece. Time will tell if it was the right move but there’s no need to overcomplicate why the team made the move.
Hunter Renfrow Appears to Be Staying Put
After Waller was dealt, there was a lot of talk of the team possibly moving on from wide receiver Hunter Renfrow. The team gave a $33 million contract to Jakobi Meyers in free agency, who has a similar playing style to Renfrow.
However, the wide receiver’s salary for 2023 was recently guaranteed which is a likely indicator that he’ll be around next season. Renfrow also dealt with injury issues last season but he doesn’t have an extensive injury history. He’s a good fit in McDaniels’ offense and should bounce back after getting a year under his belt.