Darren Waller Reveals Connection With Dolphins’ OC Frank Smith Brought Him to Miami

Darren Waller Reveals Connection With Dolphins’ OC Frank Smith Brought Him to Miami originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

Tight end Darren Waller came out of retirement to be traded to the Miami Dolphins this offseason. After the Dolphins traded tight end Jonnu Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers, it left a hole that Waller now fills.

Smith sighted his time away from the game helped him find his true self, and he realized that he missed the game of football, and that's why he decided to return. However, Dolphins' training camp got underway this week, and Smith talked to the media for the first time on Tuesday.

The Dolphins' tight end revealed another main reason he wanted to come out of retirement to play in Miami. It was because of his connection with offensive coordinator Frank Smith. Waller and Smith spent three years together with the Las Vegas Raiders, and two of them were the best years of Waller's career.

🎥 Darren Waller on why he wanted to join the Miami Dolphins: "Coach Frank Smith was a big deal why I wanted to be here, and just seeing the way they do things... it is somewhere I definitely wanted to be." (@MiamiDolphins) #PhinsUppic.twitter.com/tFAPwjiVfH

— FinsXtra (@FinsXtra) July 22, 2025

"Frank is my guy, man. So when I got claimed off the Ravens practice squad in 2018, I got to the Raiders, and he was my tight end coach. Met me at the door, and one of the first things he was interested in was - what do I need as a man, like in, you know, my new-found sobriety - like whatever I need to just be solid as a human being," Waller said. "And then that struck me a lot, and then just his knowledge of the game, the culture that he created, not only in our room, but just with how he interacted with players I thought was rare in coaches I had seen to that point.

"And you know, some of the best years of my career were with him in the room, and just some of my best football memories overall. So to be able to reconnect with him is amazing."

Waller put up back-to-back 1,100-yard seasons in his final two years with Smith on the Raiders. At the time, the tight end was performing as one of the top five at his position in the NFL.

After that, Waller had three seasons where he averaged about 500 receiving yards, an obvious decline from his production with Smith.

The impact Smith made on Waller with the Raiders went a long way. Now, Waller is excited to reunite with his former coach and likes the innovation of head coach Mike McDaniel's offense. Waller also reunites with a former teammate with whom he became close friends while on the Raiders.

"Coach Frank Smith was a big deal of why I wanted to be here, and just seeing the way that, you know, they do things. Like the way Mike is so, like innovative and the weapons that are on offense," Waller said. "And I got guys like Alec Ingold is a friend of mine from playing with him before, and how highly he speaks of just being here, not only for the team and the community. So it was somewhere I definitely wanted to be."

The Dolphins' team culture has been a topic of conversation all offseason. Waller has only been with the team for a short period of time, but maybe Miami has turned the corner in shifting the culture within the team.

Dolphins' training camp began this week and will continue into August before the team gets ready for the preseason. It may be early in training camp, but the Dolphins' new tight end seems to feel at home in Miami.

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 24, 2025, where it first appeared.