Josh McDaniels Opens Up About Darren Waller Trade
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The Las Vegas Raiders have made a number of moves this offseason that improve how they look on paper in some areas, but they lost a big offensive asset as well.
Nearly two weeks since the club traded away star tight end Darren Waller, Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels spoke about the trade and the thought process behind it.
"Any of those decisions are tough," McDaniels said at the NFL's Annual League Meeting on Monday. "Darren's obviously a really good player. He's done a lot of really good things, and did some of them last year for us. And they're not easy when those things come up, so it's just honestly, it was looking at the whole complexion of the roster, where we're at. Felt like we had an opportunity after discussing it with Dave [Ziegler] [to] get younger and add another draft pick in the draft -- you know, the top 100 -- and use some of that money that we would have paid Darren to pay Jakobi [Meyers] and start working toward some other things.
So like I said, I really enjoyed Darren and wish that I would have had more games with him last year, but like I said, not an easy decision. But that's what went into it."
The Raiders traded Waller to the New York Giants for a third-round pick, No. 100, in next month's NFL Draft.
Waller registered 3,469 receiving yards over his five years with the Raiders, including back-to-back seasons with 1,000-plus yards, which led the team. He was named a Pro Bowler for his impressive 2020 campaign.
Overall, Waller has 3,572 receiving yards in his seven active NFL seasons.
McDaniels was only able to coach Waller for one season.
The 2023 NFL Draft will go from April 27-29 and be held at Union Station in Kansas City, Mo. The 2023 NFL Year and Free Agency period began at 4 p.m. EDT on March 15.
The Raiders are expected to be significant players in the free-agent market this offseason.
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