If you read my posts before, you’d know I am one of the biggest Raider fans there is that exists. I don’t hide it, I root for my guys and I’m biased about it. But sometimes I can’t be biased when common sense is looking at me in the face. Darren Waller won’t have a nearly as good season this year as he did last year and that is just facts.
Darren Waller 2019
Darren Waller was a surprise to many NFL fans, some hardcore guys saw his potential. Even Trey Daubert had a feeling he was going to break out this year. Now Darren Waller is a household name. He was 3rd last year in fantasy points of ALL TEs, even beating out Zach Ertz and Mark Andrews. He had over 1,000 yards receiving, 90 receptions, but only 3 TDs. He still had a tremendous year but those 3 TDs are concerning. The Raiders gave their offense a facelift by drafting 2 WRs, a swiss-army knife in Lynn Bowden Jr, and signing Nelson Agholor. Given that Josh Jacobs is still in the backfield, that is a lot of mouths to feed for the Raiders compared to last year.
The Raiders only had Hunter Renfrow, and Tyrell Williams as established receiving options to oppose Waller last year. With only 3 TDs to Darren Waller’s name last season, I can’t even say he would be valuable as a TD threat. The only thing I can see out of this is that Derek Carr might finally be a good fantasy QB, although that might be my bias talking, who knows.
Final Assessment
If you’re expecting Darren Waller to be your TE 1, you need to change that plan immediately. I wouldn’t touch Darren Waller as a TE 1, maybe not even a TE 2. He will be great for the Raiders, but don’t expect him to be great for fantasy. At his ceiling for next season, I would say he is a top 15 TE for fantasy, anything higher than that he exceeded my expectations. All in all, expect Darren Waller to make a significant dip in his numbers for the 2020 season.
