Analysis: Waller deserves better than the incessant criticism he’s faced

By Case Keefer (contact)

Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022 | 2 a.m.

Darren Waller used to spend hours scrolling and posting on social media a few years ago until it started to leave him with an empty feeling.

The Raiders’ tight end began to resent Instagram specifically as he realized he was just trying “to impress people” and questioned the point. So, after much self-help reading and reflection, he turned over control of his accounts to his marketing team and hasn’t ever asked for it back.

“It really worked for me,” Waller said in the Raiders’ locker room last month. “Getting notifications off my phone, getting apps off my phone, I’m just more present and more in the moment.”

Never has Waller’s social-media darkness been more beneficial to his mental health than this season. In a disappointing year where fans and perhaps even teammates are looking for scapegoats, Waller has emerged as an unlikely and unwise top option.

Waller has missed the vast majority of the season including eight straight games with a lingering hamstring injury, and based on the response to any mention of Waller online, his absence is not excused. The 30-year-old former Pro Bowler is a constant target of vitriol ranging from silly at best to downright awful at worst.

Waller is expected to return to the field at 1:05 p.m. Sunday when the Raiders (5-8) host the New England Patriots (7-6) at Allegiant Stadium, but he’s got a long way to go in regaining his status as a fan favorite. Although he may not grasp the extent to which public sentiment has turned on him, he’s aware of the criticism and chalks it up as a consequence of signing a three-year, $51 million contract extension before the season.

“It comes down to a season where we’re not meeting expectations and (I’m) a dude who signed a big, shiny new contract with big expectations for him,” Waller said. “People can throw me under the bus, blame me. It is what it is. It’s how it’s going to be. I know how it goes, and I’m tough enough to handle it.”

Inadvertently or not, quarterback Derek Carr inflamed scrutiny on Waller after an atrocious loss to the Colts last month that dropped the Raiders to 2-7. Carr teared up after the game in his postgame news conference as he referenced teammates fighting through injuries to play while others failed to show the same commitment.

It didn’t take a private investigator to connect the dots and suspect he could have been pointing a finger at Waller. Carr later walked the comments back and said he “for sure” wasn’t talking about Waller, but speculation never ceased.

“Me and Derek talked about it,” Waller said. “We know each other. We’ve been showing up. We’ve been teammates for four years now so those kind of things don’t affect our relationship. We just know those are the way things go sometimes and we try not to take things personal.”

It’s important to note that Waller’s current five-game stint on injured reserve was not a personal choice. He came out early in a Week 5 loss to the Chiefs, and then wasn’t in good enough shape to play in the next game against the Texans but pushed hard to come back after that.

He went through intense pregame workouts at New Orleans and at Jacksonville before being ruled out shortly before both kickoffs, but it appeared he was exceedingly close to returning.

Hence the shock when Waller — along with slot receiver Hunter Renfrow — were added to injured reserve, which guaranteed them missing at least four more games, ahead of the Colts’ loss. If the Raiders hadn’t virtually fallen out of contention by then, there’s a good chance they would have handled the situation differently and maintained the week-by-week assessment of Waller’s status.

“You take the whole picture into view here and give them an opportunity to not rush back and feel so stressed about getting back,” Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said at the time. “You just give them an opportunity to get truly healthy and feel really good and then have an opportunity to come out and play their best. Those are never easy (decisions).”

Hamstring injuries are notoriously tricky to manage and easy to aggravate, so there was no reason to rush Waller back and risk further complications in what was shaping up as a lost season. To label Waller selfish as a result of the injured reserve stint is illogical, especially considering it goes against everything he’s demonstrated throughout his Raiders career.

If Waller has any fault, it’s that he never says “no” when he can help others. He’s done the most community outreach of any player since the team arrived in Las Vegas three seasons ago, and there’s not a close second.

HBO’s Real Sports earlier this year profiled his trips into the city’s tunnels and storm drains to help the homeless and those struggling with addictions not unlike the ones he faced early in his NFL career. He’s raised more than a $1 million for his foundation dedicated to that cause and paid all expenses for 44 recovering addicts according to the organization.

And that only details the efforts made in his own name; he’s also always among the first to jump at Raiders-spurred community service initiatives. He’s found it all a better use of time than stressing over the endless social-media stream.

“I don’t allow it to have access to me,” Waller said. “I know I’m somebody who’s going to compare myself to other people and I’m going to worry, get into fear and be like, ‘Am I not good enough?’ I know how my brain works so I set things up for me to stay as even-keeled as possible.”

The trend of nagging injuries keeping Waller sidelined started over the second half of last season, but the Raiders’ memorable run to the playoffs never would have been possible without his early contributions. Waller also produced an inordinate amount of the Raiders’ highlights during their first year in Las Vegas when he set a single-season franchise record with 107 receptions.

He should still have some big moments in front of him, and it’s hard not to root for Waller getting back to making the crowd roar. That’s the type of reception he deserves.

“When I step back out there, I just know (I can deal with) any set of circumstances that come,” Waller said. “It’s bad sometimes; it’s great sometimes. I’ve already ridden a lot of waves in my career, so I know it’s just about staying in the middle as much as possible.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or