After just one season with the New York Giants, tight end Darren Waller decided to step away from football. But retirement didn’t last long. Now, Waller is gearing up for an NFL comeback, with a new home. Per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Giants are trading the recently un-retired Waller to the Miami Dolphins, giving the veteran tight end a fresh start in South Beach. This move comes just 13 months after Darren Waller announced his retirement, a decision driven by a serious health scare he suffered in November 2023.

Interestingly, the timing lines up perfectly — just a day after the Dolphins sent tight end Jonnu Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers as part of the blockbuster Jalen Ramsey–Minkah Fitzpatrick trade. Now, with a void at tight end, Miami is betting on Waller to fill it. The veteran tight end, who turns 33 this September, is set for a fresh chapter in his NFL journey after signing a contract of around  $5 million. As of mid‑2025, former Raiders and Giants tight end Darren Waller boasts an estimated net worth of around $10 million. His financial haul is anchored in large contracts—namely, the Raiders’ $51 million extension in 2022, which made him the NFL’s highest‑paid tight end. Career earnings are reported to exceed $42 million through 2025.

Waller last suited up for the New York Giants in 2023. During that season, he hauled in 52 receptions for 552 yards — the second-highest receiving total on the team — along with a single touchdown. Before his one-year run with the Giants, Darren Waller spent five seasons with the Oakland and later Las Vegas Raiders. He earned Pro Bowl honors in 2020 after delivering back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, solidifying his place among the league’s elite tight ends. However, the years that followed were plagued by injuries, cutting short each of his final three seasons with the Raiders.

The news was shared by a post on X by Fox Sports: NFL, that read as, “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.”. In June of last year, Darren Waller officially stepped away from football after eight seasons in the NFL. He admitted that “the passion has slowly been fading.” At the time, he was also navigating a divorce from WNBA star Kelsey Plum and hinted that his focus was shifting toward his other love — music. But why did he abandon $32.75M NFL payday to chase a new dream in music? Let us find out about it below.

Darren Waller explains how music helped him during the toughest time of his career

Darren Waller still had more than $32 million left on his contract over the next three years. But instead of suiting up for the Giants with his heart no longer fully in the game, the NFL star chose to walk away and chase his true passion — music. In many ways, it felt like destiny. After all, Waller is the great-grandson of legendary blues musician Fats Waller. The pull toward music was always there. Recently, Waller opened up about his decision during an appearance on The Zac Clark Show, sharing what ultimately led him to swap football for the stage. When asked about his shift to music, Waller candidly admitted that he had poured everything into football because, at the time, he had no other option.

But stepping into music was a completely different story. This time, he wasn’t doing it to meet anyone else’s expectations. He was choosing a path purely for himself — not out of pressure, but because it genuinely felt right.  A few years ago, he explained how music had effected his life. He said, “The music gave me something to look forward to and something to express myself and speak in a positive fashion. And that’s where I feel like I got confidence from. I was not a very confident person, but being able to go to the studio and just make a song and be like, ‘This is what I feel like making, it doesn’t matter what other people think,’ and walking through that fear is what really helped me with my confidence just in everyday life.” 

Darren Waller eventually came to a sobering realization — he wasn’t just playing football; he was chasing approval. He had once survived an overdose in college and fought his way back, only to discover that piling up stats brought validation but not true fulfillment. By the time he joined the Giants, that inner battle between outward success and an internal void had grown impossible to ignore. The spotlight, the fame, and the pressure slowly chipped away at his passion for the game. However, he is now back to once again silence all his critics with his performance in 2025.