EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Tight end Darren Waller is calling it a career.

The New York Giants were informed Sunday that Waller, 31, is retiring.

“We have great respect for Darren as a person and player. We wish him nothing but the best,” the team said in a statement Sunday.

Waller had stayed away from the team this offseason as he contemplated his future, bypassing a potential $200,000 workout bonus and now a base salary of $10.525 million for this upcoming season.

The Giants get $11.9 million in cap savings this year with Waller as a post-June 1 cut.

New York was expecting an answer by their mandatory minicamp, which is taking 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 the tight end position.

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 catches for 1,196 yards and nine touchdowns.

The Georgia Tech product was originally drafted by the Baltimore Ravens as a wide receiver in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL draft. But his time in Baltimore was rocky. Waller dealt with substance-abuse problems early in his career that led to multiple suspensions. He was suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season and missed all of the 2017 campaign.

Waller has been open about his struggles with addiction, sobriety and how rehab following a 2017 overdose helped turn around his life. He has vowed to use his story of struggle and staying sober to help others.

“I feel like if I were to continue down the same path, I probably wouldn’t be alive, or I would be in jail or in a mental institution, probably,” Waller told ESPN in 2019. “It was that bad.”

Waller was eventually signed by the Raiders off the Ravens’ practice squad during the 2018 season. He thrived there with a new outlook and sobriety.

In his second season in Oakland, Waller exploded for 90 catches, 1,145 yards and three touchdowns. This after accumulating 18 catches for 178 yards in his first four professional seasons. Waller had 350 catches for 4,124 yards and 20 touchdowns in nine seasons with the Ravens, Raiders and Giants.

But this offseason he has kept busy working on his music — he released a new song last month — and said in an interview with The Athletic he was questioning his “commitment level” to football. He always seemed to be leaning in the direction of retirement, which the Giants knew dating back to 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 had become injuries, particularly his hamstrings. He missed a good chunk of games each of the past two seasons because of hamstring injuries.

Waller’s one season in New York saw him finish with 52 catches for 552 yards and one touchdown in 12 games. He was the team’s leading receiver before he hurt his hamstring in early November. It cost him five games.

Darren Waller RETIRES from football – with Giants star, 31, calling it a day after split from WNBA’s Kelsey Plum

NFL star Darren Waller has informed the New York Giants that he has called it a day on his football career at the tender age of 31 after his recent split from WNBA star Kelsey Plum.

According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the veteran tight end ‘hasn’t attended workouts,’ including organized team activities (OTAs), ‘and the team had known for some time he many not play.’

Waller, who only signed with the Giants last year to become the highest paid player in his position ($17M in 2023) until Travis Kelce‘s extension this offseason, seems to have made up his mind before the start of the team’s mandatory minicamp (June 11).

The one-time Pro Bowl selectee’s decision comes just weeks after he and Plum – a point guard for the Las Vegas Aces – filed for divorce in April.

The couple were married for a little over a year, as they tied the knot in March 2023.

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

News of Darren Waller potentially retiring has emerged after his lone season in on the Giants

Earlier this year, Waller released ‘Who Knew’ a song about his former wife. The track received mixed reviews, with some individuals saying it lacked quality.  

Before reports of his decision to retire emerged on Sunday, Waller had three more seasons on his contract with the Giants. He was due a base salary of $10.5M in 2024 although no guaranteed money remains on his deal.

The Giants will now take a dead cap charge of $7.9M but will save $6.2M against the cap this season. The Giants acquired Waller from the Las Vegas Raiders via a trade in March 2023.

‘We have great respect for Darren as a person and a player. We wish him nothing but the best,’ the Giants shared a statement regarding Waller’s decision to retire, via the NFL Network.

More to follow… 

Giants TE Darren Waller plans to retire at age 31 after 1 season in New York: Source

Tight end Darren Waller has informed the New York Giants that he’s planning to retire from the NFL, a league source confirmed Sunday. Waller is walking away at 31 years old after spending just one season with the Giants.

NFL Network was the first to report on Waller’s plans to retire.

“We have great respect for Darren as a person and player,” the Giants said in a statement. “We wish him nothing but the best.”

Waller’s potential retirement hung over the Giants all offseason, with the tight end contemplating the decision since his first season in New York concluded.

“It’s really the idea of signing up for another journey,” Waller told The Athletic’s Dan Duggan in early March. “It’s tough, it’s long, it requires a lot. And if you’re not fully bought into every single thing of the process, it’s going to be tough. I feel like at the end of the day, you’re doing guys a disservice if you’re not all the way in. So those are the kinds of things I’m taking into account.”

The Giants acquired Waller last offseason in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for a late third-round pick. Despite his lengthy injury history, the deal was initially viewed as a low-risk, high-reward move by general manager Joe Schoen. And early on, it appeared the move would pay dividends. Giants quarterback Daniel Jones and Waller looked in sync throughout training camp and the preseason, and the duo looked poised to create problems for opposing defenses.

But the risk part of the deal revealed itself early as hamstring injuries popped up before the season began. Waller, who had missed 14 games over his two prior seasons in Las Vegas, wound up missing five games in 2023 with a hamstring injury and never made the impact the Giants had hoped. He finished his only campaign in New York with 52 catches for 552 yards and one touchdown as the Giants sputtered to a 6-11 season.

Beyond the injuries, Waller has had an up-and-down NFL career since he was drafted in 2015 by the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round. He navigated drug and alcohol abuse during the early years of his career. After being suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy, he violated it again and was suspended for the entire 2017 season.

The Raiders signed him off the Ravens’ practice squad in 2018, and he broke out in 2019 with 90 catches for 1,145 yards and three touchdowns. He was even better in 2020 with 107 catches, 1,196 yards and nine scores. His 107 receptions in 2020 set a Raiders franchise record, and he earned his one and only Pro Bowl nod.

Despite an injury-marred 2021 season, his excellence in the two previous seasons went a long way in earning him a three-year, $51 million extension from the Raiders before the 2022 season. Injuries limited Waller to just nine games in 2022, and after the season, the Raiders traded him to New York.

With Waller’s retirement, the Giants will gain $11.6 million in cap savings while eating $2.5 million in dead money in 2024 and $4.9 million in 2025. That cap impact would have been the same if the Giants released Waller, which allowed the Giants to wait out the tight end’s decision, rather than force his hand.

Waller’s expected departure leaves the Giants tight end room thin. Daniel Bellinger will soak up a majority of Waller’s snaps after playing 62 percent of the offensive snaps last season. Bellinger finished the season with 25 catches for 255 yards. Lawrence Cager and Tyree Jackson will also return to the tight end room, while the Giants added Jack Stoll and Chris Manhertz during free agency, though both are considered blocking tight ends rather than pass catchers, and Theo Johnson in the fourth round of the NFL Draft.

Similar to Waller, Johnson possesses exciting traits with elite size, speed and athleticism. It’s probably too much to ask from him in Year 1, but the Giants are hopeful he can develop into a legitimate receiving threat.