Giants acquire Darren Waller, give Daniel Jones first legitimate receiving weapon

Waller signed a three-year, $51 million contract extension with the Raiders in September 2022, but the 30-year-old had his second straight injury-riddled campaign in last year. Waller had back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons in 2019 and 2020, before missing six games in 2021.

Last season was even worse, as he posted just 28 receptions for 388 yards and three touchdowns on 43 targets, while playing in just nine games.

Tuesday's trade somewhat contradicts Las Vegas head coach Josh McDaniels' quotes on Waller from late February at the NFL combine, when he said that the Georgia Tech product would be "a big part of what we do going forward."

What may be a significant loss for the Raiders could be a big gain for the Giants, and finally gives quarterback Daniel Jones a dominant downfield target. If healthy, Waller has top-three tight end upside and can take some of the load off of stud running back Saquon Barkley.

Waller could also provide incoming second-year tight end Daniel Bellinger with a veteran mentor next season.

Since the newly extended Jones took over as New York's starter in 2019, the team hasn't had a receiver even reach 800 yards through the air in a season. Darius Slayton posted back-to-back campaigns with over 700 receiving yards in 2019 and 2020 and then had a team-high 724 yards in 2022.

There've been huge swings and misses (Kenny Golladay) and tantalizing young talents fall short of expectations due to injuries (Kadarius Toney). Though Waller is an injury-risk, this seems like as good of a chance Jones and the Giants will get to start airing it out next season.