When thinking of elite NFL tight ends, names like Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz immediately come to mind. Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden considers his starting tight end, Darren Waller. Gruden praised his guy to Marcus Mosher of Raiders Wire:
“He leads the league in receiving right now at his position. If you've watched him block, I don't know if there's a better tight end in football really” Gruden said.
Waller does the lead the NFL in tight end receptions, but not in yardage. In those terms, he trails only Kelce Ertz and Evan Engram of the New York Giants. This is in part because of how heavily he's used in Oakland's offense. Waller sees over five targets in every game, and he usually makes the most of them. He's yet to reach the end zone this season, but with his usage rate, a touchdown has to be coming soon.
One reason Waller is used so heavily is the lack of other Raider receiving options. After Antonio Brown's departure, Tyrell Williams has taken over the role of number one receiver. Williams has performed admirably, but after him, there's not much on the depth chart. Dwayne Harris is a special teams ace who's been forced into offensive duties. Rookies Hunter Renfrow and Keelan Doss feature heavily in the passing game, with mostly poor results.
With this crew of pass-catchers, it is no real surprise Waller sees the number of targets that he does.
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