Analyze Darren Waller's matchup for week 9
Darren Waller is on injured reserve with a strained pectoral and is ineligible to play until Week 13, making him an automatic sit for Week 9 and the next several games.
Waller was placed on IR on Oct. 22, guaranteeing he’ll miss at least four contests, including this Week 9 date with Baltimore. The Dolphins will roll with Julian Hill and Tanner Conner at tight end while recently-signed Greg Dulcich learns the playbook. When healthy earlier this year Waller flashed elite red-zone juice (4 TD on 12 targets), but that production is irrelevant until he’s activated following Miami’s Week 12 bye.
Through four games he averaged 2.5-29-1, peaking with a 5-78-1 line versus Carolina in Week 5 while playing a restricted 15-20 snap role as the club managed his comeback from retirement.
Waller’s strained pectoral landed him on injured reserve, ending any Week 9 fantasy relevance. The injury timeline mandates a four-game minimum absence, pushing his earliest return to Week 13 against New Orleans. Prior to the setback the 33-year-old looked revitalized in aqua and orange, re-establishing himself as a red-zone nightmare with four scores on only a dozen targets. Miami had deliberately limited his snap count to keep him fresh, yet he still produced a top-12 per-game fantasy point pace at the position. With Tyreek Hill also out for the season, a massive target funnel awaited Waller upon his return, making him an intriguing IR-stash for the fantasy playoffs. Managers who can afford the dead roster spot should tuck him away now, because the schedule (vs. NO, @NYJ, vs. TEN, vs. JAX) is soft and the target competition will be light once he suits up again. Until then, deploy Hill, Conner or streamers like Dulcich if you’re desperate, but plan on Waller re-emerging as a low-end TE1 down the stretch if his pec cooperates.