Trade hammers continue to fall this offseason. And as the hammer found the Dolphins, the much speculated move of Jalen Ramsey happened. But the cornerback wasn’t the only one packing his bags to head for Steel City. Tight end Jonnu Smith also went to the Steelers. For the Dolphins, it meant a crucial position of TE needed to be filled. And the guy for the job was Darren Waller, the former Giants TE who hung up his cleats after the ‘23 season.

Waller was still on the Giants’ payroll for three more years when he made the decision to walk away and chase his passion for singing. But after only a year of chasing off-field glory, he’ll be back on the field for the ‘25 season. And the Dolphins have given a lot of incentive to acquire their new TE from the Giants.

As per a post on X by Fox Sports: NFL, the decision was official. As the post writes, “The #Dolphins are finalizing a trade with the #Giants for TE Darren Waller, per multiple reports. Miami is trading a conditional 2026 6th-round pick to the Giants for a 2027 7th-round pick and Waller, who is coming out of retirement to join the team.” As reports suggest, the Dolphins have signed Waller to a $5 million deal for this season. At this point, it’s unclear why Waller decided to end his retirement after only one year away from the field. But he will be playing the critical role of a security blanket for Miami now.

Throughout his career, Waller has posted a 1000+ yard season twice. Both incidentally during his stint with the Raiders. But back to back health issues marred his last three years in the league. With a clear play time ahead for Waller, the Dolphins will be expecting that old 2020 Pro Bowl performance from him this season. There’s also the matter of filling Jonnu Smith’s shoes. After a year of being away from NFL action, we’ll have to see how much he can ball out this year. And this move is all the more interesting now because he has also revealed why he decided to walk away in the first place. After all, that decision wasn’t cheap.

Darren Warren’s expensive decision to quit

Hanging up the cleats is never an easy decision for any NFL star. For Darren Waller, his NFL journey wasn’t just about putting up impressive stats as a security blanket for his QBs. The struggles started long before him joining the Ravens back in 2015. After overdosing once in college, the internal struggles kept growing. It hit a boiling point in 2023 when he was running with the Giants. An eight season-career, intense dissatisfaction, and an unspecified illness later, the tight end knew it was time to walk away.

The warning signs crept up for Waller when the Giants made him play fullback against a matchup with the Bills. As he had put it recently on The Side You Don’t See podcast, “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 want to do this sh– anymore.’” And as Waller revealed in The Zac Clark Show a few weeks ago, the price for walking away was a whopping $750,000. When he’d made up his mind, he still had three years left with the Giants, with a total payout of around $32 million. On the show, Clark asked why he decided to hang up his cleats when there was still “money left on the table”. Waller’s answer?

As Waller put it, “The next three years would have been like $32 million… And I had to write a check to walk away. I had to write back $750,000 in bonus money to the Giants to walk away.” Waller noted that he’d put everything he had to make football work. But it wasn’t working out. As for his music, that felt more natural, like a calling he could devote it all to. “I feel like there’s something for me. There’s a journey for me in this.” So that musical journey may not be over yet. Waller might just get back to it after his ‘25 stint with the Dolphins. Or will he decide to stay a little longer in the game? It all depends on whether he can find his own place within the Dolphins with this new deal.