After cleaning up his life, Waller a budding star on field
The record-breaking contracts signed this week by the 49ers’ George Kittle and the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce were big news for tight ends around the NFL. But there was another big story from that position too.
Raiders tight end Darren Waller celebrated his third year of sobriety Wednesday.
“He had a dark portion of his life there for a while that not a lot of people come back from,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said Friday. “Not a lot of young people out there getting the real story about Waller. You can beat addiction. Just listen to Darren Waller and how he did it. He is a great source of leadership and proof you can be great, even though you’ve had some dark, dark times.”
Some of Waller’s biggest boosters are those who share the same locker room with him.
“He’s a big inspiration to us,” said Raiders defensive back Lamarcus Joyner. “He’s actually a leader. Just to see a guy go through that kind of stuff and clean himself up, both off the field and on the field, is just amazing.
“And if you can’t be encouraged by that, then you don’t have a heart.” Waller, 27, hit rock bottom in 2017 while with the Baltimore Ravens when he failed his second drug test and was suspended for the entire season. That all seems like a lifetime ago for Waller, who said Wednesday was indeed a meaningful day.
“It means I’m not the same person that I was because before I wasn’t somebody who was worth look
ing up to or that was inspirational in any way,” Waller said Friday. “Now I’m kind of free from that. I can really step into my calling and write my own story and be of service to other people in the process and inspire people.
“So me being clean, I feel like it’s breaking generational curses in my family. I think it’s changing what’s cool with young people. It means a lot to me now that a lot of people are looking to me for inspiration. It kind of gives me extra energy as well.”
Waller’s sobering saga was a focus of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series with the Raiders in Napa last summer. He admitted to being a wreck while he was with the Ravens.
“I was in Baltimore, I was just like a vegetable,” Waller said last summer. “I was getting high, literally, every day. Whatever I could get my hands on — like opiates first, like oxy pills, stuff like that. Xanax, cocaine. Not caring about anything, any kind of consequences, or anything like that.
“Plotting to sabotage my way out of the league so I didn’t look like a quitter. So the league (would) put me out of my misery.”
Instead, the Raiders took a chance on the 6-foot-6 Waller, who hasn’t disappointed them either on or off the field. He came into his own on the field last year while joining Todd Christensen as the only tight ends in Raiders history with more than 1,000 receiving yards in a season. His 90 catches were also second only to Christensen’s 95 in 1986.
Those numbers, along with Waller’s successful, ongoing battle with addiction, help explain why Gruden doesn’t look at Kittle or Kelce, now armed with $75 million and $57.25 million extensions, respectively, with much envy.
“We think he’s a superstar,” Gruden said of Waller. “We think he’s a great tight end. I know two tight ends got paid a lot of money yesterday; we’re happy to have our guy. He can do it all. He can block. He can run any route. He’s got great stamina.”
While Waller isn’t complaining about the fouryear, $29.8 million extension he signed last year, he can’t help envisioning the impact the Kittle and Kelce megadeals will have on tight end salaries next year and beyond.
“Those are incredible for the tight end position. They’re definitely breaking the market, to say the least,” Waller said. “I feel like both of them deserve it. And if the opportunity presents itself to me and other tight ends down the road, it’s just setting us up. Because before, the position was like the lowest paid of all the skill positions.
“I feel like every one of the tight ends are licking their chops, but you still got to take it one day at a time to get there because nothing’s promised. It’s a violent game.”
In the meantime, Waller continues his daily battle against addiction with his eyes wide open. In fact, he’s in such a good place these days that he hasn’t been fazed by the move to Las Vegas, hardly a place conducive to winning battles against addiction.
“It’s funny that it’s like most people look at Vegas like this crazy place and it’s like mayhem at all times, but I feel at peace here already,” Waller said. “I feel like I live in a great area. I’ve met great people out here. The Raiders organization is taking just as good of care of me now as the first day I got here. So just excited to write a new chapter here.”
• The Raiders announced the signing of defensive end Datone Jones, a former Cowboy and 49er who spent last season with the Jaguars. The eight-year veteran was the Packers’ first-round pick in 2013 but has mostly served as a reserve, including three games with the 49ers in 2017. While in Dallas, Jones was coached on the defensive line by current Raiders assistant Rod Marinelli.