All eyes are on the explosive Carolina Panthers' trio of Bryce Young, Jalen Coker, and Tetairoa McMillan in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears. But building a home requires a foundation.
To hang a picture, you need adhesive strips, and everything in arts and crafts class needs glue. When general manager Dan Morgan was late-night school shopping for the project Brad Idzik had due in the morning but assigned months ago, he snagged tight end Darren Waller.
And he's already becoming an unsung hero.
Darren Waller meant much more than two catches to the Carolina Panthers in Week 1
At 34, the signing was out of the ordinary for this regime, which had focused on rebuilding and giving younger players opportunities. With his age and injury history, the expectations for Week 1, and overall, were justifiably low.
However, the tape told a story of a significant cog in the machine that scored the most points in Panthers history in a season opener.
Waller came into the league a decade ago fast, and he’s still blazing in his mid-thirties.
Chicago knew that and expected it.
The Pro Bowler served as a decoy to open up major gains in Carolina's passing offense for two star receivers. On the second play of the game, Waller ran a seam route against Cover 3, holding rookie safety Dillion Theieneman and allowing Coker to get a 1-on-1 with cornerback Jaylon Johnson, where he absolutely fried him for a 29-yard catch.
Later in the game, Idzik wanted to open up the middle of the field. He dialed Dagger, a concept with a deep post from the slot receiver to carry the safeties deep and a deep dig from your Z receiver. Waller ran the post out of the slot, carrying both safeties 35 yards downfield and allowing McMillan to toast Johnson once again for a 20-yard gain.
If you squint, you’d see prime Draymond Green setting moving screens and throwing pocket passes to Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. But Waller had to score buckets for himself to make defenses respect him.
He did just that.
Waller beat Theineiman for a touchdown, but it was called back for a ticky-tack push-off penalty. Nonetheless, the veteran made his presence felt later, beating first-year corner Malik Muhammad on a quick slant, outrunning him to add 17 yards and a first down for Carolina’s offense.
He did that at 34.
His two catches for 28 receiving yards are understandably being overshadowed by the huge games from the star receiver duo. But keep an eye out for Waller this season.
Because there will be multiple games where he elevates from the glue to the baking soda volcano.
Add us as a preferred source on Google