On Saturday July 12, 2025, Las Vegas Ballpark will host a charity softball game called the Battle for Las Vegas.
Two teams, captained by Las Vegas Raiders star Brock Bowers and Vegas Golden Knights star Jack Eichel, will compete to benefit seven Southern Nevada charities.
On Thursday June 19, 2025, the Battle for Las Vegas instagram account revealed Brock Bowers’s team for the softball game. The team had 10 members including Bowers; 9 of them are Raiders players currently on the active roster. Those 9 members are Bowers, P AJ Cole, QB Aidan O’Connell, RB Sincere McCormick, K Daniel Carlson, CB Eric Stokes, WR Jack Bech, S Jeremy Chinn, and OT Thayer Mumford Jr.
Only one name wasn’t a current Raider, but it is a name that Raiders fans will know well. Bowers is tabbing former Raiders star tight end Darren Waller for his team.
Waller’s reconnection with his Raiders teammates is especially interesting amidst his recent comments about his retirement.
Waller Was Elite During His Raiders Career
Darren Waller didn’t exactly have a legendary career with the Raiders, but for two years, he was one of the best tight ends in the NFL.
In 2019, the Raiders’ last season in Oakland, he put on a show all season long in front of the Oakland Coliseum crowd. Waller racked up 1,145 yards, second best for tight ends in the NFL, and scored 3 touchdowns on the season.
But in 2020, the Raiders’ first season in Las Vegas, Waller was even better. He had career-highs in receptions with 107, yards with 1,196, and touchdowns with 9. He finished second in the league in receiving yards for a tight end once again and was awarded the first and only Pro Bowl appearance of his career.
In the summer of 2021, he was ranked the 35th best player in all of football by his NFL peers.
Injuries derailed his Raiders career after that, and Waller retired after one season with the New York Giants in 2023.
Waller’s Recent Comments on Retirement
Last week on Thursday June 12, 2025, Waller shared why he retired from the NFL in 2023 at just 31 years old.
In an appearance on The Side You Don’t See podcast with Michael Schwartz, Waller discussed a game during Week 6 of the NFL season when he was a member of the Giants.
The Giants were taking on the Buffalo Bills and Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll was using Waller like a fullback, which Waller did not enjoy.
“I knew I was retiring when we played in Buffalo,” Waller said. “It was in the first quarter of the game, we were running like this counter-lead running play, and I’m kind of like leading through the hole like I’m a fullback. And the play is working, but I sit down on the sideline after a drive where we ran it like three times, and I’m like, ‘What the f— am I doing with my life? I’m out here playing fullback. I don’t even wanna do this s— anymore.’”
For the first time Darren Waller shares with me that he decided to retire in Buffalo. The 2023 SNF game was his first time ever playing in Orchard Park.
His journey in a new episode of The Side You Don’t See: t.co/5Q9MFv2k1U
#BillsMafia #TogetherBlue
NFL fans were shocked to see Waller go just a few short years after he was one of the best tight ends in football, knowing they would never see him on a football field again.
Waller may not necessarily be gearing up for an NFL return, but at least Raiders fans will get to see the fan-favorite take the field alongside his Raiders teammates one last time at the charity softball game.
With only active Raiders filling out the rest of the roster, it truly will be like seeing Waller “come out of retirement” to play a sport once again.
