Giants Think They Already Know Darren Waller's Retirement Decision
The New York Giants have been waiting for a decision from Darren Waller on his retirement nearly the entire off-season as he started contemplating retirement publicly prior to the NFL Draft. The New York Giants didn't get to see Waller on the field for Spring Workouts however, they did get to see their tight end in an interesting music video.
The Giants seemingly already expected that Waller was going to retire as the team drafted Penn State tight end Theo Johnson in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. Now it seems official that the Giants expect that Waller will retire as Darren said on instagram live that a decision is coming real soon.
According to Jordan Raanan of ESPN, the New York Giants are expecting that Darren Waller will announce his retirement.
Darren Waller is expected to make a decision by next week’s minicamp on his playing future and people in and around the team expect he’s going to retire, multiple sources told @AdamSchefter and me. Would be a pleasant surprise if he decided otherwise. https://t.co/KiH645hDJe
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) June 3, 2024
Joe Schoen traded the 100th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft to acquire Waller, as the team was coming off of a Wild Card win against the Vikings and hoping to continue to make establish itself as a contender. In what may have been his lone season in New York, Waller recorded 52 catches for 552 yards and a touchdown, missing five games with injuries.
The interesting part for the Giants will be the salary cap implications of Waller's retirement. Waller still has three years left on his contract at around $15.5 million per year, taking up 5% of the Giants salary cap. The Giants currently have just over $1.6 million in cap space, and Waller's retirement could free up $11.9 million more.
Was the Trade Worth it For the New York Giants?
When the Giants traded for Darren Waller, they likely expected that they'd have Waller for the entirety of his contract. Now just one year in, the player that Joe Schoen acquired to give Daniel Jones a viable target may be headed to retirement. Looking back at the trade, trading a top-100 pick for a tight end that had an extensive injury history feels like a massive overpay especially given the results of the Giants 2023-24 season.
More New York Giants News:
manual