EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Tight end Darren Waller is calling this a career.
The New York Giants were informed Sunday that Waller, 31, is retiring.
“We have great respect for Darren as a person and as a player. We wish him all the best,” the team said in a statement Sunday.
Waller had stayed away from the team this offseason as he contemplated his future, avoiding a potential $200,000 training bonus and now a base salary of $10.525 million for next season.
The Giants get $11.9 million in cap savings this year with Waller being cut post-June 1.
New York was hoping for an answer at its mandatory minicamp, which will take place Tuesday and Wednesday. They now move forward with Daniel Bellinger, Lawrence Cager and fourth-round pick Theo Johnson at the top of their depth chart at tight end.
Giants tight end Darren Waller is retiring from the NFL a year after New York acquired him in a trade with the Raiders. Cooper Neill//Keynote USA/Getty Images
Waller was traded to New York from the Las Vegas Raiders for a third-round pick last March. He spent the previous five seasons with the Raiders. Waller had a pair of 1,000-yard receiving seasons for the Raiders and made the Pro Bowl in 2020 when he had 107 receptions for 1,196 yards and nine touchdowns.
The Georgia Tech product was originally selected by the Baltimore Ravens as a wide receiver in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. But his time in Baltimore was difficult. Waller faced substance abuse issues early in his career, which led to multiple suspensions. He was suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season and missed the entire 2017 campaign.
Waller has been open about his struggle with addiction, sobriety, and how rehab after a 2017 overdose helped turn his life around. He has vowed to use his story of struggle and staying sober to help others.
“I feel like if I continued down the same path, I probably wouldn’t be alive, or I probably would be in jail or in a mental institution,” Waller told KeynoteUSA in 2019. “It was that bad.”
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Waller was eventually signed by the Raiders off the Ravens’ practice squad during the 2018 season. There he thrived with a new perspective and sobriety.
In his second season in Oakland, Waller exploded with 90 receptions, 1,145 yards and three touchdowns. This after accumulating 18 receptions for 178 yards in his first four seasons as a professional. Waller had 350 receptions for 4,124 yards and 20 touchdowns in nine seasons with the Ravens, Raiders and Giants.
But this offseason he’s stayed busy working on his music (he released a new song last month) and said in an interview with The Athletic that he was questioning his “level of commitment” to football. He always seemed to be leaning toward retirement, something the Giants have known since January.
Waller and Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum filed for divorce last month after being married for a year.
The problem for Waller and his football career in recent years was injuries, especially to his hamstrings. He missed a fair amount of games in each of the last two seasons due to hamstring injuries.
Waller’s lone season in New York saw him finish with 52 receptions for 552 yards and a touchdown in 12 games. He was the team’s leading receiver before injuring his hamstring in early November. He cost him five games.
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