It began as a heartwarming story about perseverance and the human condition. Who didn’t root for Darren Waller coming out of retirement at 33 to attempt a career restart with the Miami Dolphins?

Here was a story about a player who had beat back some personal demons in a manner to appreciate as much as him possibly helping the Dolphins’ void at tight end. Every team could use a story of hope like him, right?

It didn’t even matter much when Waller didn’t practice in July’s training camp. Your eyebrow raised a smidge, sure, considering you’d think a player who missed a year needed to work off some rust, if not impress his new team.

When Waller still didn’t play through August’s preseason, the story became more of an uncertain question. But what made it cross the line to odd was when the in

See Full Page