Last year, former NFL tight end Darren Waller shocked them with a sudden retirement announcement after his lone season with the New York Giants. He was just 31 at the time of retirement. Now, he reveals the real reason for his retirement at such an early age. He said many things in a statement. Read this article to know about it.
In an interview with Michael Schwartz of WKBW, Darren revealed that he came to the decision of hanging up his cleats during the first half of the Giants’ week 6 loss against the Buffalo Bills. You may wonder, why? Well, according to him, Brian Daboll had him playing a different role on offense, and he wasn’t fully satisfied with it.
“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 me at the end, and they didn’t call it. It was in the first quarter of the game, we were running like this counter-lead running play, and I’m kind of like leading through the hole like I’m a fullback. And the play is working, but I sit down on the sideline after a drive where we ran it like three times, and I’m like, ‘What the f— am I doing with my life? I’m out here playing fullback. I don’t even wanna do this shit anymore.’
“Nobody else would really even know that I’m thinking this, but I’m on the sideline like, ‘Yep. I’m going to finish this year to the best of my ability, but I’m definitely done playing after this year. And that was the only time I played in Buffalo.”
In his last season, he was with the New York Giants and played a total of 12 games with them in that season. In that season, he caught 52 passes for 552 yards and just one touchdown. At one point in time, he was viewed as one of the best tight ends in the NFL. He put together back-to-back 1,100-yard campaigns in 2019 and 2020.