Former Ravens, Raiders, and Giants wide receiver/tight end Darren Waller — who was just acquired by New York via trade last March — retired earlier this month. When detailing that story, we at PFR cited a report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, who noted that Waller had informed the Giants of his retirement.
Around the same time, Waller also posted a nearly 18-minute video on YouTube in which he explained the reasoning behind his decision. The entire video is worth a watch, though one of the most notable segments is Waller’s revelation that he was hospitalized in November. He started to feel feverish while driving home and thought he may have contracted COVID-19 for a third time, and when he arrived at his apartment, he said be began to shake and lose consciousness.
“I kept nodding [off] and couldn’t breathe, so I ended up calling 911,” he said (h/t Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post). “I think I’m talking clearly on the phone, but they can’t make out much of what I’m saying.”
While waiting for paramedics to arrive, he said, “I’m there breathing deeply and in between each breath, I’m yelling out, ‘Help!’ So maybe I could wake the neighbors up. I don’t know how long the time was — it felt like forever — and I’m like, ‘Damn, I’m dying on this couch and nobody knows.’ It was kind of similar to my overdose — like the power plug being pulled out and I couldn’t breathe anymore.”
Ultimately, Waller said he spent over three days in the hospital, and during that time, he was unable to stand up, use the bathroom, or feed himself. His struggle with substance abuse early in his professional career is well-documented and is one of the reasons why his becoming one of the league’s best receiving tight ends was so remarkable, and he indicated that he has maintained his sobriety. Of his November health scare, he said, “it was an experience that would sober somebody up and make them think, at least.”
When speaking about his football career, Waller said that, “the passion has slowly been fading,” which echoes the sentiments he voiced when addressing a potential retirement decision in March. At that time, he said, “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.”
Likewise, during an interview with TMZ Sports shortly after he announced his retirement, he said, “I reached a point where I don’t have that 100 percent to give to the process, I don’t think that’s fair to teammates, or fans, or organizations that are expecting me to give that. That’s why I came to the decision I made.”
Waller, who will turn 32 in September, also revealed plans for a music career, and he and WNBA star Kelsey Plum filed a joint petition for divorce in April after just one year of marriage, per Jenna Lemoncelli of the New York Post. His waning passion for football, his desire to explore other pursuits, and the upheaval in his personal life may all have been contributing factors in his decision to leave the game, with the frightening medical episode sealing the deal.
“I don’t know if I really feel like I would’ve felt great about how my life was going if I died at the time,” he said.
As such, Waller was better able to walk away from the nearly $12MM he could have earned in the 2024 season, which we referenced in our original story on his retirement and which Dan Duggan of The Athletic discussed in more detail.
As Duggan notes, if Waller had been on the Giants’ roster on Week 1 — and he surely would have been, considering his abilities and the shape of the club’s TE depth chart behind him — his $10.5MM base salary for 2024 would have become guaranteed. He could have earned an additional $200K for participating in New York’s offseason program and $75K for each game that he was active.
On top of that, Waller said in his retirement video that he believes he owes the Giants $750K in bonus money stemming from his 2023 restructure. According to Duggan, $8.8MM of Waller’s $9.8MM base salary for 2023 was converted into a bonus for cap purposes, and the remaining $1MM was paid to Waller in the form of a signing bonus. However, Duggan says the Giants are unlikely to pursue the $750K proration from that $1MM payout.
Waller, who indicated he will continue serving as a mental health and addiction advocate, said, “thank you to the Giants. Welcomed me in, making me feel like family and giving me an opportunity to reflect in this time and make a decision.”
“First, I waited for my bonus to kick in, and then I knew it was the right move for me.”
-Waller
*said in autotune*
It’s weird that the Giants are “unlikely” to pursue the bonus given that Waller even acknowledges that he probably owes it back.
I think you missed some parts of the story lmfao
Its an ongoing story.
The bonus is nowhere close to the guaranteed money he’s walking away from.
SO
What caused his November hospitalization for THREE DAYS??
Extremely strange he never provides an answer.
I take that back– after googling, I learned he did provide an answer (or at least somewhat of an answer) that wasn’t acknowledged in this article. It was from an injury suffered in a game 3 days prior.
Judging from what was described, Waller may have suffered a stroke — which can end a professional athlete’s career regardless of sport.
Unless you’re Kris Letang who’s had not one, but two of them and is somehow still playing in the NHL. Absolutely nuts.
Honestly his heart needs to be studied. He also lost his father (of whom he was close with) and played at a high level. Guy has had a tough break considering how great he is.
I could be missing something but it looks like that November injury was a hamstring. There must be more to the story
Yes, the injury was to his hamstring, which was made public. The cause of the November episode is unspecified.
@Rory- Unspecified, kinda. Waller said the episode stemmed from his injury. I have no reason not to take that at face value. As National said, probably a clotting issue from it.
Clot shot obviously. I’m surprised this isn’t happening a lot more.
Obviously. No reason to think it could be anything else
Big pHARMa strikes again!
Ya Big Pharma is awful and kills people. But acting like you know the vaccine did this to him is stupid. Just stop.
Pull your head out. You need air.
So it’s a fact to you that Darren Waller had a stroke from the Covid Vaccine? Do you even know what shot he got lol? How can you know this lmfao?
I mean, it’s possible that he’s a junkie…too much coke could do that. But, they don’t call it the clot shot for nothing. Media always lies and covers up these incidents.
Good luck being happy in life lol bye
I don’t like pro athletes posting 18 minute goodbye videos any more than I like rock bands making 3 or more farewell tours.
In other words – “ I’ve sucked for the last few years and I just don’t have the drive anymore. I’m not very good anymore and I don’t want to do the work to be at the top of my game “
You are so tough behind your keyboard little man lol
He’s hardly sucked, but what you described is lost passion and plenty of players retire due to that so what point are you even going for here?
“Hamstring of death,” sounds like he had an anxiety attack, lost his zest for nfl the day he got paid.
Same to you. So tough behind your keyboard little man lmfao
Is Waller your daddy little boy?
Terrible trade by Schoen. This won’t help his job security after a likely 6-11 or 7-10 season with a revolving door of Qb mediocrity.
IMO, as a Raiders fan, it wasn’t a terrible trade for you guys. I was thinking the same as what Waller admitted to; that his heart wasn’t in it any more Some injuries and the yoke of being a Raider (back then) weighs heavy.
But if you had received vintage Waller, you’d have been real happy with the trade.
So tired of the “Waller Retirement” articles. Who cares at this point?! Giants made a high risk/reward trade for the guy and it didn’t work out. Period. Never understood why the Raiders wanted him gone in the first place. It took only a handful of games in Waller’s first season with the Giants to see why.