Darren Waller

TE·

Carolina Panthers·#88·6'6"·238 lb·11th year·Georgia Tech

Tier 1Round 6, pick 204 in 2015

Updated November 4, 2026

84.0

Model Score

Up from 80.2 last year

Trade value ·a 7th

Player comps Be the Panthers GM →

Darren Waller has 15 catches, 209 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns in 7 games for the Carolina Panthers this season through Week 8, 7.7 PPR points a game (updated November 4, 2026).

Model Score by season

Up 3.8 from last season.

How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →

STM Take

An aging tight end whose ceiling games still show up.

The case for

Two Pro Bowls (2019, 2020) plus the 2021 tier 3 (#12) finish with Las Vegas establishes a top-tier TE career baseline. Wks 5 and 15 2025 produced 18.8 and 25.6 PPR.
6'6"/255 frame with sub-4.6 forty plus the return after a year off shows the body still holds up when the football comes back. Career receiving yards total 4,000+ across 8 active seasons.

The worry

Career durability has been the consistent question (multiple suspensions, the 2014 cancer diagnosis, the 2024 retirement). At 33 the floor games (Wk 17 1, Wk 14 2.7) are real.
Tua Tagovailoa's career durability plus the Tyreek Hill situation make the Dolphins offense itself the variable; Waller's ceiling depends entirely on the QB staying healthy.

What to watch: Whether Waller returns for 2026 or whether the 2025 comeback was the closing chapter, because both outcomes have organizational signals about which way Miami is rebuilding.

Full take and bio

The 2025 return at #18 (tier 5) is a real bounce after a full year away from football. The Wk 15 25.6 PPR and Wk 5 18.8 spike games show the TE1 ceiling weeks remain available when the offense schemes him a target share. At 33 with the documented health history (cancer recovery in 2014, multiple suspensions, the retirement decision), the 2026 question is whether the return year was a one-off swansong.

Waller came out of Georgia Tech as Baltimore's 6th-round pick (204th overall) in 2015. Multiple drug suspensions ended his Ravens tenure (he was suspended for the entire 2017 season). Las Vegas signed him in 2018 and he transformed into one of the league's premier TEs: tier 3 #12 in 2021 plus a Pro Bowl in 2019 and 2020 with 90+ catches in both seasons. The Giants traded for him in 2023 (tier 5 #20) before he retired in June 2024 citing health concerns. Miami signed him out of retirement for the 2025 season to fill the Tyreek Hill-injury gap.

Comps

The players whose size, testing and production looked most like his at the same point in their careers. The percent is how close.

Dallas Clark ’1380%Rodney Holman ’9278%

Greg Olsen ’1855%

Jared Cook ’2046%Wesley Walls ’0146%

Plays like: Mark Bavaro, Jerramy Stevens, Tyler Higbee. Built like: Marques Colston, Mike Evans, Vincent Jackson.

Darren Waller Props This Weekat GB

Market	Line	Over	Under
Receptions	2.5	+135 Bovada	-180 Bovada
Receiving yards	20.5	-110 Bovada	-120 Bovada

Best price across 9 books as of Mon Nov 2. Lines move; check the book before you bet. This week's board · Line Room

Play Darren's numbers on Underdog · partner link

Darren Waller Injury StatusNot listed

Darren Waller is not on the injury report as of Nov 4. Source: the official NFL injury report, refreshed daily.

This season · 7 games

Rec1531st

Rec Yds20924th

Rec TD37th

Targets2530th

Yds/Gm29.922nd

Fantasy PPG7.724th

EPA / target1.1133rd

Avg separation3.2 yd17th

Avg cushion4.9 yd

YAC over exp0.018th

Catch %56.2%

7.7 fantasy points a game, 54 PPR on the season. Every game on the Game Log, every season on Career. Advanced numbers are EPA and Next Gen Stats.

Contract2026 cap

2026 Cap Hit

$1.1M

APY

$1.3M/yr

Years on Deal

Signed

2026

Est. Value

$2.2M/yr

Every year of the deal, the dead money and what a cut or trade saves on the Contract tab.

Fantasy outlookWeek 9

Our rest-of-season board has Darren Waller at TE26 (the public consensus says TE25); the model has 76 PPR points left for him this season; this week he visits GB.

Price a trade for him on the fantasy trade calculator, or see the whole board on the Fantasy hub.

Draft & College

Round 6, pick 204 to the Baltimore Ravens in 2015, out of Georgia Tech (ACC). He went about where consensus had him.

Taken#204

Consensus board190th

Our college model#1845 TE

In college, 2014, 12 games: 26 rec, 442 yds, 6 TD, 17.0 yds/rec. (partial record) Coming out: 4.46s 40 yd, 12 reps bench, 37" vertical, 125" broad, 7.07s 3-cone, 4.25s shuttle.