The 2023 NFL season marked Darren Waller's first with the New York Giants. And it could be his last. The Pro Bowl tight end contemplated retirement immediately following the year, according to the New York Post. Waller has not decided whether he will play in 2024 as he is currently weighing is options.
"I'm undecided at the moment," Waller told The Athletic recently. "It's really the idea of signing up for another journey. 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."
Waller says he will make a decision "pretty soon," but don't expect one before free agency begins next week. The 31-year-old Waller was one of New York's top offseason additions a year ago, arriving via trade in exchange for a third-round draft pick. Injuries limited his availability for a third straight season, however, and he told some inside the Giants organization he was considering hanging up the cleats, per the Post.
"I'm in the middle. It could go either direction," Waller told The Athletic. "It's just putting everything down and being like, 'What are the real pros and cons of going on this journey again, and what do I really want out of it?' I don't feel like I've arrived at the point where it's like the concrete answer that I can be like, 'All right, that's my truth.'"
There was recent speculation Waller would be a potential salary-cap casualty, but the Giants have no plans to release him, the Post reports, hoping he can stay healthy and "be a more robust contributor to the offense" in 2024. Waller is technically under contract through 2026, thanks to a three-year extension he originally signed with the Las Vegas Raiders, due $14 million this coming season.
When active, Waller has been one of the NFL's steadiest pass catchers at his position. Before logging 52 receptions for 552 yards in 12 games with the Giants, he spent five years with the Raiders, twice eclipsing 90 catches and 1,000 yards as one of the team's top receivers. Originally a sixth-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens back in 2015, he's missed at least five games due to injury in each of his last three seasons, appearing in just nine contests in his final year with the Raiders.
