Well, it is now official. After many months of speculation, it is now confirmed by the man himself. After eight years in the league, Darren Waller will be retiring from the NFL. With Waller's retirement, the Giants are going to be losing a weapon for Daniel Jones to throw, which stinks. However, with Waller's departure, the Giants benefit from this a lot more than they would lose him, and there are three major reasons why.
1. Giants Gain A Lot of Cap Space
Let's start with the obvious and economically good reason why this benefits the Giants. With Waller's retirement, the Giants are expected to get around 11.6 million Dollars in Cap Space. The Giants have some extra money to spend now or try to acquire a player via trade to help fix the team.
One position the Giants could upgrade is their secondary on defense. The New York Giants secondary is awful, and with the new cap space acquired, they will surely invest in improving it during the next few months. There are still some solid free agents on the market. Some names include Stephon Gilmore, Quandre Diggs, Justin Simmons (How he is a free agent, I have no idea?), etc.
I would include Xavien Howard's name in the mix, but given the recent allegations against him, that seems like a long shot.
No matter what, though, no team in the NFL will complain about getting extra cap space.
2. Get Younger And Focus On The Youth At Tight End
This one is simpler to understand, so I won't explain too much here. The Giants had to focus on the team's future as Waller was in his 30s. The team already had Daniel Bellenger and had just drafted Theo Johnson. Both are in the team's long-term plans and are now in the team's present as well. As a result of Waller's retirement, the Giants get younger on offense.
3. Closes A Chapter On A Big Mistake Made In The Joe Schoen Era
Even looking back on it, this trade was a headscratcher. I mean, Waller is a great player, but here's the issue: Waller could not stay healthy. Did you know that Waller played in only 32 of the last 51 games of his career? With those injuries to his Hamstring and Ankle, they tend to nag with a player like him, and his contract was not the greatest to begin with.
After one season, it was a big mistake, and while he had 52 catches for 552 receiving yards and a touchdown, it just didn't work out. Waller this offseason helped add more headaches with an unclear future and that bizarre music song he released. So, the Giants get out of the mistake of acquiring him and can move on to the
If you want to know, The Raiders used the pick to select wide receiver Tre Tucker, who showed some flashes last season. Another fun fact is that this pick was originally acquired in the Kadarius Toney trade.
As for Darren Waller, I want to say what a career. This guy went from being a sixth-round pick to one of the top tight ends in the league at one point. I hope Waller enjoys retirement because he deserves it because of how successful his NFL career was. While the ending was rough, I hope he is happy with what he does next, is in a good place, and can continue doing good deeds in the world.
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