The Miami Dolphins are practicing against the Detroit Lions this week, but one player will not be participating as Mike McDaniel will not activate Darren Waller.
Waller has missed every practice so far this year because McDaniel doesn't want to bring him back too soon. The veteran tight end spent a year out of football on the retired list. At some point, the Dolphins have to stop coddling him, but it won't be this week.
McDaniel said that he would not throw Waller "into the fire of joint practices out of retirement." He has been using this excuse since he arrived. He didn't activate him to start training camp because he wasn't in football shape. Additionally, he wouldn't activate him ahead of the team's first contact practices, as he had sat out last year on the retired list.
Mike McDaniel's reasons for not activating Darren Waller have Miami Dolphins fans scratching their heads
Dolphins fans want to know exactly when the right time to activate the tight end will be. It's hard to imagine they will activate him for the first game of the season since he missed camp.
The Dolphins will host the Jacksonville Jaguars in Miami for joint practices next week, so by this logic, he won't be ready then either.
McDaniel says a lot of things that leave fans confused, but this one ranks up there quite high. What's even more funny is that Waller is listed as the No. 1 tight end on the team's depth chart despite being inactive and not having practiced.
Fans are dying to know what exactly Waller is being protected from. Is it retirement, or is there something else? If he is in horrible shape, Miami should send him back into retirement.
Not having Waller on the field is not doing the Dolphins any favors, and McDaniel is surely not doing Waller any favors either.