Among the new pass-catchers the New York Giants added this offseason, there’s no question tight end Darren Waller is the most notable.
Waller, who is basically a wide receiver playing tight end thanks to his rare athleticism, developed into an elite player at his position during his five seasons with the Raiders, with only injury being able to slow him down.
While there is that concern with Waller, the Giants are hoping he can not only avoid said issues, but also elevate quarterback Daniel Jones and help him take that next step in his career.
But before that can happen, Waller and Jones must be on the same page, and that’s something they’ve been working on all offseason — and that work continues in training camp, where Waller has been Jones’ favorite target.
“It’s a relationship that’s gelling,” Waller said. “We’ve got a few months under our belt of staying in touch and just open dialogue, ego removed. We can tell each other what we’re thinking, what he may want, things I’ve been comfortable doing and things I like doing and find a midpoint or be able to just learn about each other. I feel like it’s paying off and just trying to keep going day by day and let the results take care of themselves.”
With Jones and Waller connecting early and often in camp, it has also given us a closer look at just how good the Georgia Tech product is, as he’s routinely dominated anyone who has tried to cover him.
Darren Waller easy pic.twitter.com/vvA8vgLuWn
— Talkin’ Giants (@TalkinGiants) July 29, 2023
Waller’s performance has caught the attention of his teammates, who have heaped praise on the 30-year-old tight end, which he considers an honor.
“I mean, it’s an honor for my teammates to speak of me in that way because these are guys that do it at a high level and have done it for a really long time,” he said. “I guess it’s just for my size and my weight and I guess the way that I run and the multitude of routes that I try to be comfortable running, and a lot of guys don’t necessarily do that.
“But it’s just coming in with a mindset of I don’t want to be limited in any part of my game. Whatever they want to line me up and run at, I want to be able to do that and be effective at it and not just be like, ‘Oh man, I’m not really that good at that,’ or, ‘I can’t do that.’ I want to be able to do everything and just present myself as a viable option to the quarterback every time I run a route. That’s really the goal. Keep it as simple as that. Every single rep I go out there, make myself presentable. If he wants to throw it there, he can throw it there and throw it to me. So that’s just how I approach it.”
Waller finds himself in the right situation with the Giants as he looks to have a bounce-back year.
His offensive coordinator, Mike Kafka, was previously the passing-game coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs, where he worked with the best tight end in the business, Travis Kelce.
If there’s anyone who will know how to properly utilize Waller and get the most out of him, it’s Kafka.
