Former New York Giants star tight end Darren Waller has unretired and has been traded to the Miami Dolphins, according to reports.
Waller, 32, retired from the NFL in June 2024 after eight seasons, including his first with the Giants. He last played in the NFL in 2023.
On Tuesday, however, Waller came out of retirement and agreed to a one-year contract with the Dolphins that is worth up to $5 million, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. New York agreed to trade Waller and a 2027 conditional seventh-round draft pick to the Dolphins for a 2026 sixth-round pick.
The Dolphins’ trade for Waller comes one day after Miami traded tight end Jonnu Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a multi-player trade also involving Jalen Ramsey Jr. and Minkah Fitzpatrick.
The Cleveland Browns play Waller and the Dolphins in week 8 of the NFL season on Sunday, Oct. 19, in Cleveland.
In his video last year announcing his retirement, Waller also described an incident in November 2023 where he “almost just lost my life” due to an unspecified illness and spent three days in the hospital.
“I come out of that experience and I’m sitting in the hospital, and I go back into my daily life and I’m like, ‘Pretty clear, I almost just lost my life, and I don’t know if I really feel if I would have died that I would have felt great about how my life was going if I died at that time,” he said.
Prior to playing one season for the Giants, Waller emerged as a star during his five seasons with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders from 2018-22. He earned a Pro Bowl selection in 2020 after recording 107 receptions for 1,196 yards and nine touchdowns.
Waller played his first two seasons for the Baltimore Ravens, which drafted him in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. In 2017, he was suspended for one year without pay for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Waller was released by the Ravens in 2018 and signed with the Raiders later that year.
For his eight-year NFL career, Waller has 350 receptions for 4,124 yards and 20 touchdowns in 86 games, including 63 starts, for the Ravens, Raiders and Giants.
“There was a time when Waller was one of the best receiving tight ends in the league,” said Dan Labbe, Browns reporter for cleveland.com / The Plain Dealer. “He had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons with the Raiders and was a big part of the tight end revolution in the passing game. It’s been a while since he has been that player, but getting into Miami’s offense might help him at least be a productive tight end, even after a year away from the game.”
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