Newly acquired New York Giants tight end Darren Waller had a performance to remember in his previous game at MetLife Stadium. Waller led the way for the Las Vegas Raiders in their 31-28 road win against the New York Jets in Week 13 of the 2020 season, tallying 13 receptions and two touchdown catches. He also notched a career-high in receiving yards (200) in the contest.
Waller has since logged a mere five 100-plus receiving yard games. He dealt with multiple injuries over the final two seasons of his run with the Raiders, including a hamstring ailment suffered last October that wound up sidelining him for eight contests.
There has been some doubt as of late over whether Waller can emerge as a productive contributor with the Giants. For the veteran tight end, he believes that he can blossom in the Daniel Jones-led Giants offense.
“I believe wholeheartedly in myself, and I believe that through action and through consistent performance, Giants fans will believe as well,” Waller said during his introductory press conference with the Giants. “They can have questions at this moment about my health. Those are legitimate concerns, but I'm somebody that I believe I've addressed those issues.
“I'm willing to come out here and to be the best I can be to be a weapon for this team, a tool that this team can use to get to that next level that they want to go to. That's exactly what I'm going to do.”
In the big picture, Waller has several goals in mind for his upcoming run with the Giants.
“For me, number one, the growth starts with being available as much as possible for the team,” Waller said. “Then for me, from there, just route-running technique is something that I always feel like I could grow in. I feel like I've grown tremendously from coming into the league and moving to tight end. … Looking at everything that this offense is trying to do and be like, ‘I can do that for this team. I can do whatever they're going to ask of me.'”
Waller recorded 3,469 receiving yards and 17 touchdown catches during his five-season run with the Raiders.
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