After contemplating retirement since the 2023 season ended, New York Giants tight end Darren Waller has made a decision. According to a June 9 X post from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Waller has officially decided to retire from the NFL.
Sources: #Giants TE Darren Waller has informed the team he plans to retire, walking away at the age of 31 after just one season with NYG.
Waller hasn’t attended workouts, and the team had known for some time he may not play. Now, he’s officially let them know before minicamp. pic.twitter.com/1ZTmj1VX2m— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 9, 2024
This news isn’t a surprise as it appears that Waller was leaning in this direction. This comes just one year after the former Pro Bowler was traded from the Las Vegas Raiders to the Giants for a third-round pick. Waller has missed multiple games due to hamstring issues in three straight seasons and only played 12 games for New York.
He was one of the faces of the Raiders during his tenure from 2018 to 2022 and cemented himself as one of the top tight ends in the NFL. However, injuries derailed his career and Las Vegas decided to move on. In hindsight, that was the correct move as the team now has two promising tight ends in Michael Mayer and Brock Bowers.
Waller is only 31 so he could’ve had a few years left in the tank but it appears he’s not as committed to football as he once was. It remains to be seen what his next move will be but he’s been putting out a lot of music lately so that could be his focus going forward.
Darren Waller Walking Away From a Lot of Money
Waller signed a three-year, $51 million contract extension with the Raiders two years ago and it was set to start this year. Despite all of that money left on the table, he’s decided to walk away. He must have been very inclined to stop playing football to forego so much money.
The Giants will now open up around $11.6 million in salary cap space. According to Spotrac, Waller has earned $42.8 million in his career, which is less than half of what was remaining on his contract. He’s young enough to potentially make a comeback after taking a year away but that’s seeming unlikely considering other stuff he has going on.
Why Walk Away From NFL Now?
It’s worth noting that Waller recently just finalized a high-profile divorce with Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum. While the details of the divorce have been kept under wraps, he may just not have the mental bandwidth to play football right now.
Waller has also been on the decline for a few years now. He peaked in 2020 when he set the Raiders’ single-season record for receptions in a season with 107. He did not have more than 55 catches in any of the subsequent three years.
That was mostly due to injuries as he missed 19 games combined in the last three seasons. The Raiders saw the writing on the walls last year, which is why they traded him to the Giants. New York didn’t have to give up too much to get him but there’s no doubt they wouldn’t do the trade with the Raiders now with the knowledge that they have.
Waller was never able to consistently be a top-three tight end in the NFL but he was a unique weapon when he played due to his size and speed. It’ll be interesting to see if decides to consider a comeback in the future.
