MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Those watching Monday's game might have been surprised by Miami Dolphins tight end Darren Waller's performance, but that feeling never got past the front doors of the team's facility.
Waller caught two touchdown passes despite playing just 16 snaps in Miami's 27-21 win over the New York Jets. The game marked his first since January 2024. But when asked whether he imagined that sort of debut from Waller, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel blurted out a single word.
"Yeah."
Waller spent the 2023 season with the New York Giants but retired the following June and did not play the entire 2024 season. He was traded to the Dolphins this offseason but missed most of training camp and the team's first three regular-season games with a hip injury.
McDaniel said Waller's play Monday night wasn't a surprise to anyone, not only because of what they'd seen him do during the prime of his career with the Raiders, but because of what they'd seen him do at practice.
In 2019 and 2020, the only NFL tight end to record more catches than Waller's 197 and more yards than his 2,341 was Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce. Those seasons also marked the only in which he played a full season.
"You don't have players play with the expectation of anything but their best," McDaniel said. "I knew he was fully capable. I just didn't want to overcook it. It inspires me and I think it inspires his teammates ... all he's done is everything that he possibly can do and put his best foot forward, and he has been a phenomenal contributor to our team.
"I think the guys have felt it. He's been doing everything he can to participate, and they were very confident when he was ready to go that he would be what we know him to be."
Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill will miss the remainder of the 2025 season after dislocating his left knee in Monday's game, leaving an All-Pro-sized hole in their offense's passing game.
The 6-foot-6, 240-pound Waller won't play a majority of the snaps when Miami plays the Carolina Panthers on Sunday (1 p.m., ET, FOX), but his size adds a new dynamic to an offense that has featured smaller pass catchers over the past few seasons.
On Waller's first touchdown catch Monday, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw the ball intentionally high with a defender on Waller's hip and another closing in. Waller extended, caught the ball and tapped both feet in bounds.
It made an impression on Tagovailoa.
"The first touchdown throw to him was an eye-opener for me just given the length that he has," Tagovailoa said. "In a way, that was a trust throw where I felt like, 'Dang, that was high that I threw that ball,' and for him to get up and make a play like that, kind of gives me more of an insight of what kind of ball I can throw to him if he's ever coming across the middle, or if it's a one-on-one matchup with him on a go bar, whatever that looks like."
McDaniel said the plan is not to go from "zero to 60" Sunday, in terms of Waller's workload, but the tight end came out of the game "clean," despite a trio of limited practices this week.
Waller also converted a third down on the Dolphins' opening drive in addition to his second touchdown catch, finishing the day with three catches for 27 yards.
Waller never hit the same level of production of his 2019 and 2020 seasons, recording 1,605 yards in the three seasons before he retired. But the start to his Dolphins tenure has him confident in his ability to contribute on the field.
"From the first third down of the game, just being able to line up and beat man coverage and win -- it's like your body and nervous system kind of remembers what it feels like to get out there and compete," Waller said. "That was a good way to start, I guess, to get back into a flow a little bit.
"I think naturally, it's human to have some uncertainty having not just been in the line of fire with the bullets flying at full speed. It feels good to get back in the mix and know that I'm still capable of contributing and being one of the guys on offense that the team can lean on."