For the Giants, it’s a smart transaction. One week after signing Daniel Jones to a four-year contract, general manager Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll gifted him with a new offensive weapon. The price was a third-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, No. 100 overall, which the Giants acquired in the trade with Kansas City that sent Kadarius Toney to the Chiefs.
Waller, 30, is one of the NFL’s best receiving tight ends. A 6-6, 255-pounder, he has played in 74 regular-season games with 52 starts and totaled 298 receptions for 3,572 yards and 19 touchdowns. The other tight ends currently on the roster – Daniel Bellinger, Lawrence Cager, Dre Miller, plus fullback Chris Myarick – have 55 career receptions.
Waller has been productive in the red zone and is expected to be a frequent recipient of passes from Jones, who is coming off his finest season and is entering his fifth year as the team’s quarterback.
“With Dabs, just seeing him from when he was in Buffalo, you just see a high-octane offense,” Waller said. “A lot of playmakers, ball just flying around the yard no matter the weather conditions. It’s just an exciting brand of football, and you can tell by the way he’s come here, I feel like he’s really empowering players. And you can tell by just me looking at the tight end group that they had (in 2022), from the outside looking in, receivers that the casual fan may not know a lot about, but they’re making clutch plays in clutch moments. So, to see him and how he gets everybody involved and the creativity in which he does that, I’m excited to just be in the mix and be a part of what this offense is going to try to do.”
This has been a lifechanging month for Waller. On March 4, he married Plum, an all-star guard with the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces. Yesterday, his professional life sent him back to the east coast.
“I was wrapping up with my physical therapist in Las Vegas,” he said. “Probably around 11 a.m., I got a call from the general manager of the Raiders (Dave Ziegler), and he was just letting me know that I was going to be traded. And we just kind of reflected on the last season with the Raiders and just expressing respect for one another and what we did to try to make it work. But from there, I got a facetime call from Dabs and Joe shortly after that. And was finding my way on a flight to Newark by 4 p.m. So, it’s been pretty crazy. Phone’s been going nuts. And trying to just say goodbyes to Las Vegas people and get introduced to people with the Giants.”