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Jordan Raanan, ESPN Staff Writer
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 recently — 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.