The Pittsburgh Steelers will welcome the New York Giants to Acrisure Stadium, but star tight end Darren Waller will not be there. Waller reportedly informed the Giants that he would retire from the NFL at 31 after just one season with the team. The Giants traded for Waller from the Las Vegas Raiders last season, and it appears that it was only a one-year transaction.
With the move, the Giants will save over $11 million in cap space. While Waller has not publicly announced his decision to retire from football, the Giants released a statement wishing Waller well in his post-football endeavors.
“We have great respect for Darren as a person and player. We wish him nothing but the best,” the organization said.
The Giants saw this coming, as they drafted Penn State tight end Theo Johnson in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Johnson should back Daniel Bellinger, who emerged as a serious option when Waller was sidelined for a time in 2023 with multiple injuries.
With Daniel Jones at the helm, the Giants hope that this season will be different from the previous iterations of the team under Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen. They drafted Malik Nabers and gave Darius Slayton incentives in his contract to keep him happy. The wide receiver room should be greatly improved, and it could give teams like the Steelers trouble, but they lost Saquon Barkley, who will loom heavily over the group.