If you want to be a tight end for the Miami Dolphins and fulfill the dream of what the Shanahan/McDaniel-style outside zone scheme wants out of the position, be what Darren Waller said a tight end should be in his April interview with Jon Gruden.

The former Raiders and Buccaneers head coach hosted Waller on his Gruden Goes Long show on March 28th, just nine months after Waller had announced his retirement from football. His most recent stint was the 2023 season with the Giants.

Gruden did not tread lightly when it came to his questions and he touched on both the personal and football sides to what he knows about Waller.

“I’ve been worrying about you — I think a lot of your fans have been worrying about you, right?,” opened Gruden, after sharing Waller is one of his all-time favorite players. “We know that you overcame a lot of adversity as a young man you turned yourself into a great tight end and all of a sudden you disappeared from football.”

Gruden was Waller’s coach during his breakout seasons of 2019 and 2020 with the Raiders. In just those two years, Waller posted a combined 197 catches, 2,341 yards and 12 touchdowns. It included a 2020 shredding of the Dolphins in week where he caught 5 passes for 112 yards. Only QB Ryan Fitzpatrick connecting with WR Mack Hollins while viewing the play out of his helmet earhole did Miami manage to pull off a win.

Waller’s history prior to his time in Oakland and Las Vegas with Gruden and the Raiders was troubling, to put it mildly, which this story will touch on later.

WALLER GETS TEs ROLE AS A BLOCKER

When the conversation turned to football, the two may as well have had a live feed into the Dolphins’ training facility. What they were saying fit what the Dolphins have always wanted to do at the tight end position, and is likely the reason more than salary issues that Jonnu Smith is in Pittsburgh, and Waller now in Miami.

“I want you to just remember the conversation we had about for us to use your receiving skills, (to) let you do all the things that you want to do and can do,” said Gruden, “you’ve got to block the C Gap (outside the tackle) and you’ve got to pass protect once in a while so we can pick up some blitzes.”

Music to Mike McDaniel, offensive coordinator Frank Smith and tight ends coach Jon Embree’s collective ears one would imagine. Even more so was Waller’s response.

“I know that if I put my face in the fire, it’s helping our tendencies out on offense,” said Waller. “Because if every time you go in there it’s a pass, it’s pretty easy for the defense to scheme up. But if you go in there and you mix it up and you get in there in the run game and do some dirty jobs, it’s only helping you get the ball more in early down situations and the defense’s eyes aren’t completely on you.”

Bingo.

The difference the Dolphins hope to get out of Waller they don’t currently have in their other tight ends – a player who isn’t completely one dimensional, whether it be in the run game or receiving.

PLAYBOOK COMFORT KEY TO FAST PLAY

He had more to say in the interview that sounded like a mental fit for the Miami offensive — given its reliance on players getting to their spots or landmarks — and how he can grow his game from that basic understanding.

“I’ve got to know the basics, I’ve got to know the mechanics, I’ve got to know the route depths and the proper stems and splits,” said Waller, “but once I know all that stuff and I’m able to put my personality into those routes, it takes to a whole other level.

“WOULD YOU COME BACK AND PLAY?”

Probably the most telling part of the entire interview from a Miami Dolphins standpoint was when Gruden seemingly threw it out there and asked if Waller would come back and play for him. His answer may have a) put wheels in motion or b) suggested wheels already were when it came to his future in Miami.

“You and (Dolphins’ OC) Frank Smith are the only two people I would hear out and give them my ear,” said Waller.

Gruden replied that “Miami doesn’t throw it to the tight end man — you ain’t going down there.”

Hmm, a head scratcher and interesting given TE Jonnu Smith’s ‘24 receiving season and that Gruden would half-jokingly throw out that Waller isn’t going to Miami.

ONE DAY AT A TIME

While with the Giants, Waller switched to jersey number 12, a nod to Alcoholic Anonymous’ 12 Step Program and the people out there who are suffering from addiction, like he once had.

His growth in this area is admirable.

Without going into a deep dive, Waller had heavy-duty substance abuse issues prior to signing on to join Georgia Tech as a wide receiver. He had an opioid addiction led to the use of ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol. He failed a few drug tests while with the Yellow Jackets and has said he cheated his way out of getting caught on others.

Regardless, a player with his elite skills ended up being selected in the draft’s sixth round, and things didn’t get better once he got to Baltimore and joined the Ravens.

WAKING UP IN A HOSPITAL BED

Waller was suspended with the Ravens for failed drug tests in 2016 and 2017, with the second leading to a year-long NFL suspension. His bottom likely came while his team was on the field and in what led to that ’17 ban.

While the Ravens were playing a preseason game in August of that year, Waller was out buying what he thought was oxycontin. Whatever it was he bought and later ingested ended up being laced with the deadly drug fentanyl that has remained a deadly scourge in the United States.

Waller passed out in his Jeep just blocks from the Ravens facility and was found roughly five hours later. His knowledge of the incident apparently began when he woke up in the hospital.

It was the bottom he needed. He sought and received help and kept battling through that daily existence of an admitted addict.

A FIT FOR THE McD MANTRA

The latest edition of Waller, or at least the one present on Gruden’s show, threw a line out there that Miami’s head coach has used numerous times in the course of his tenure with the Dolphins.

“Embrace the adversity,” Waller said. “A lot of times we spend a lot of time resisting adversity when (it’s) a thing that ultimately molds our character, makes us tougher – mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically. Without that there would be no hero’s journey. There would be no story without the ups and the downs and we’ve got to know what both sides feel like.”

And as it relates to those he will now consider teammates when he shows up in Miami Gardens? What is it he took from his time with Gruden and Frank Smith?

“The biggest thing I learned is when you’re willing to give a lot to the team, you’re going to get a lot in return,” said Waller. “I feel like that’s just an overall life principle.

NO TEST LIKE SOUTH FLORIDA

Darren Waller has had a rough go, some of which has been private and some of which has been very public. Fighting demons like his is always a challenge, especially in a city where they sit around virtually every street corner. Trouble can find you in Miami.

Waller accepting to play in South Florida will hopefully be something that brings him continued peace and maybe more should he still have the ability to effectively return to the NFL. If so, it will be another locker room culture contribution for the Dolphins that can’t hurt a team clearly searching for all it can get.

And even if he doesn’t make it on the football field … if Waller can resist the city of Miami and its temptation with his current mental and health state intact, it will be a win, regardless of how things play out with the Dolphins.