First details of Darren Waller’s contract with Dolphins reveal how much Miami is really betting on him for the 2025 season
The Miami Dolphins' bet on Darren Waller as a viable replacement for Jonnu Smith is becoming clearer. Miami, a day after trading Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers, agreed to terms to trade for the formerly retired New York Giants tight end as part of a Day 3 pick swap. It was reported, at the time, that […]
The Miami Dolphins' bet on Darren Waller as a viable replacement for Jonnu Smith is becoming clearer.
Miami, a day after trading Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers, agreed to terms to trade for the formerly retired New York Giants tight end as part of a Day 3 pick swap. It was reported, at the time, that the Dolphins and Waller had agreed to terms on a one-year contract worth up to $5 million in compensation.
After an extensive wait, we now know how much the Dolphins are formally putting on the line and how much Waller will have to earn.
First official terms of Waller's contract revealed
The Dolphins are reportedly set to offer Waller a $2 million base salary this upcoming season, meaning more than half of the reported total value of his contract is going to be tied to performance incentives. The opportunity cost here for the Dolphins is about $1 million in cap space — at least until the team cuts down to 53 players at the end of the preseason.
The player Waller is set to bump off the top-51 of Miami's cap space is earning approximately $1 million in compensation, so the difference of Waller's $2 million base versus the prior 51st player is what the team is going to lose in cap spending power.
Whether or not Waller's $2 million salary is guaranteed is yet to be determined, although it feels unlikely that the Dolphins would offer too much in the way of guarantees to a player who did not play football last year. Instead, the pressure is on Waller to show up ready to roll in training camp, make the team, and then perform at a high enough level to earn the incentive thresholds (also undetermined) tucked into his contract.
Should Waller earn the full $5 million available to him in 2025, something will have had to go unexpectedly right or wrong for him to get there — depending on your perspective. Miami would likely be thrilled to have to pay out after protecting themselves. But Waller getting that level of production could easily mean the 2025 season went completely sideways for one of their more high-profile weapons.
New Dolphins TE Darren Waller hinted at an NFL return this spring — and now we know who to thank for getting him to Miami
It turns out we may not be so surprised to find out that the Miami Dolphins are bringing on tight end Darren Waller in 2025. Miami's creative roster shuffling has been busy this week, with the Dolphins first shipping out cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith on Monday for a trade package that […]
