The Miami Dolphins offense will be without one of its top weapons for their next two games, but they avoided the worst-case scenario with tight end Darren Waller.
Head coach Mike McDaniel said Monday it was likely that Waller would miss the games against the Atlanta Falcons next Sunday along with the Thursday night game against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 9.
“It’s a situation that probably it would be living in hope to see him in the upcoming next week, next week’s games,” McDaniel said. “But he’ll be diligent; this means a lot to him. But that’s kind of where I’m at with it right now, with the information I have.”
Waller, one of the bright spots with four touchdowns in his first three games back from retirement this season, left the team’s loss against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday with a pec injury and underwent an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury.
While head coach Mike McDaniel described it as a soft-tissue injury, Waller’s agent Drew Rosenhaus said during his weekly spot on South Florida TV station Sunday night it involved a pec and a tear likely would have meant Waller would be out for the season.
The game against Cleveland marked the first time that Waller failed to score a touchdown.
Before he left the game, Waller wasn’t targeted even once against the Browns as the passing game pretty much was limited to passes around the line of scrimmage.
If the worst-case scenario had materialized, one would have had to wonder about Waller’s future, both with the Dolphins and in the NFL.
Remember that Waller unretired after being acquired in a trade with the New York Giants and has made the comment that he only was going to come back to play for one of two people — former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and current Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith. Well, Gruden isn’t in the NFL right now and who knows what’s going to happen with Smith considering the shaky job security of head coach Mike McDaniel.
Losing Waller for any amount of time would be a big blow to the Dolphins offense, which had its worst performance of the season in the loss at Cleveland.
The Dolphins already have lost their most dynamic playmaker with Tyreek Hill on IR with his knee injury, and have played without two starting offensive linemen since Week 1 after guard James Daniels and tackle Austin Jackson were injured.
We should point out here that Daniels, like Waller, sustained a pec injury. He has been eligible — just like Jackson and kicker Jason Sanders — to come off injured reserve for a couple of weeks now, but has yet to return to practice.
McDaniel said Monday that none of the players on IR or PUP — Daniels, Jackson, Sanders and offensive lineman Liam Eichenberg — will be designated to return this week.
Waller is one of only three tight ends on the 53-man roster along with Julian Hill and Tanner Conner, and it also should be noted that Hill sustained a leg injury in the fourth quarter of the Cleveland game.
The Dolphins also have Hayden Rucci and Greg Dulcich on the practice squad.
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