When the New York Giants traded with the Las Vegas Raiders for Darren Waller, expectations were he'd help transform the offense. With the help of hindsight, the Waller trade was, by all accounts, an unmitigated disaster.
Big Blue traded for the veteran tight end during the 2023 offseason, and the move looked promising. The Giants had just made the playoffs the year before, so it definitely felt like Waller’s athletic presence could help Daniel Jones and the offense take another step forward.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The G-Men stumbled to a 6-11 finish, and Waller’s first season in New York was a disaster. He finished with just 52 receptions for 552 yards and one touchdown before landing on injured reserve with a hamstring strain in Week 8. Waller ultimately retired at the end of the season — though Big Blue Nation now knows his decision was in motion long before his disappointing season in East Rutherford came to an end.
Darren Waller called it a career well before anyone realized it
Waller was a recent guest on The Side You Don’t See podcast and admitted that things shifted for him after the Giants’ crushing 14-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills on October 15, 2023. That game most notably featured Waller in a controversial moment at the end, when he came up short on what could’ve been a game-winning touchdown pass from Tyrod Taylor at the one-yard line.
"I knew I was retiring when we played in Buffalo," Waller said. "It was a game where it was really controversial because one of the guys held on me at the end and they didn't call it. It was in the first quarter of that game."
"We were running play, and I'm kind of like leading through the hole like I'm a fullback and the play is working. But I sat down on the sideline after a drive where we ran like three times and I'm like, 'What am I doing with my life? I'm out here playing fullback. I don't want to do this anymore."'
These are certainly shocking comments from Waller, especially considering it sounds like he quit on the Giants mid-season — wanting to retire after New York’s Week 6 matchup against the Bills. The move always felt risky given Waller’s prior injury history anyway.
With these now jaw-dropping comments from Waller after his downright awful lone season with the Giants, it just felt like he wasn’t happy playing football anymore.