What happened to Jaylen Waddle?

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle began making huge waves for the team the minute he stepped on the field donning his white, blue, and orange. 

The electric-fast wideback is barely in his fourth year, yet he is fresh into a three-year extension, and was named into the NFL Top 100 list this year, a list featuring just four Dolphin players. The praises may have come too soon, however. Waddle’s plays in recent games have become unpredictable, and not many people know why. It’s also reminding many of the case of another Dolphins player, Tua Tagovailoa.

A classic case of injuries

Jaylen Waddle is a record-breaking wide receiver, but he may also have a case of the injury curse. Over the years, he has been opening the regular season with an injury. Many Miami fans still lament how he missed the last two regular-season games in 2023 due to an ankle injury. And so, very few people were shocked when he opened up the season with an undisclosed injury he got in training at the start of August. The injury was severe enough that Waddle missed not one, but three consecutive training sessions. Still, Miami Dolphins’ coach Mike McDaniel assured the press that the injury was “minor stuff,” adding that Waddle was “one of the toughest Wide Receivers I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach.”

The Jacksonville incident 

Things began looking up for Week 1 when the Alabama star was not on the injury report at the start of September, and ahead of the Dolphins’ home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Waddle had to wear the no-contact jersey for the final weeks of training camp, but this was reportedly for precautionary reasons, and he was cleared to cover the Dolphins’ flank soon after. 

Although the match started poorly for the Dolphins in the first half, as they quickly racked up a 14 – 0 lag, there was still some hope. That is, until Waddle got injured and had to be evaluated for a concussion in the medical tent. Luckily, things turned around for the Dolphins in the second half of the game. Waddle would return after his long break with an explosive second-half play, securing all five targets for a 100-yard clearance. This performance would help carry the Dolphins into their 20 -17 win that fateful Sunday.

The long road to recovery

Jaylen Waddle’s performance has been inconsistent in the weeks following the injury. The Dolphins suffered consecutive losses against the Bills, the Seahawks, and the Titans before clinching a recovery win against the Patriots. Waddle’s receiving yardage for all three games was notably low, with only about 113 yards combined. Even in the Dolphins’ recent 15 -10 win against the Patriots, Waddle was noticeably limited, catching just 4-of-8 targets for 46 yards. 

However, a non-injury-related explanation for Waddle’s poor production does exist. Starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has been out for all three games since he suffered a concussion in Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills. With his alter ego missing on the field, it is pretty easy to understand why Waddle has been unable to make big plays consistently. Attempts by Coach Mike McDaniel to test Skyler Thompson and Tim Boyle as QBs have also not gone well for Waddle and the Dolphins. But since Tagovailoa has been declared ineligible to come off injury reserve until after week 7, it is solely up to Waddle to make a miracle happen.