Who Should I Start? Darren Waller or Cole Kmet

Thursday, September 4, 6:15 PM

Miami Dolphins tight end Darren Waller (hip) was officially listed as a non-participant for the second straight day at practice on Thursday, according to Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post. The Dolphins are bringing Waller along slowly after he was in retirement all of last year, but his absence from practice on Thursday is a bit concerning after head coach Mike McDaniel said on Wednesday that he would return the following day. The 32-year-old veteran is also listed with an actual injury for the first time since coming out of retirement to join the team. All summer, the Dolphins were taking it easy on Waller to get his conditioning up to speed. He will have one more chance on Friday to get back on the practice field before Sunday's Week 1 season opener against the Colts. Even if Waller is active, he'll likely be on a snap count, so he can't realistically be trusted in starting fantasy lineups.

Sunday, August 17, 10:46 PM

Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet caught one pass for 29 yards in Sunday's 38-0 preseason win over the Buffalo Bills. On the second play of the game, Kmet caught a beautiful seam pass from quarterback Caleb Williams and took it for a big gain. Kmet played two drives with the first-team offense, splitting reps with 2025 first-round tight end Colston Loveland. Despite being listed as the starting tight end on the Bears' unofficial depth chart, Kmet is ranked 275th (TE38) on the current RotoBaller half-PPR rankings. With how Loveland has been performing, it's hard to imagine that Kmet has much fantasy value at the moment.