Former Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller has extended his NFL career for another season, agreeing to a one-year deal with the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old veteran returns to the league following a brief comeback stint with the Miami Dolphins last season, where he played nine games for the franchise.
Waller had initially announced his retirement following his sole season with the New York Giants in 2023, before sitting out the entire 2024 campaign.
However, after making his comeback in Miami, he has opted to continue his career for another year after signing a deal with the Panthers.
In nine games with the Dolphins, Waller hauled in 24 receptions for 283 yards and six touchdowns, representing the second-highest single-season touchdown total of his nine-year career.
His 2025 campaign was disrupted by multiple health setbacks, including a hip issue, a pectoral strain and a groin injury that limited his playing time.
Former Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller has extended his NFL career for another season, agreeing to a one-year deal with the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday
Waller previously retired in June 2024, weeks after his divorce from WNBA star Kelsey Plum
When healthy, Waller flashed glimpses of the elite receiving form that previously earned him a Pro Bowl selection with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020.
Waller initially hung up his cleats back in June 2024, off the back of his high-profile divorce from WNBA star Kelsey Plum.
The couple were married for a little over a year, as they tied the knot in March 2023.
In the weeks that followed his divorce, Waller admitted that he was forced ‘to look in the mirror’ after Plum ended their relationship.
‘You talk about get honest or die lying, you kinda got to look at yourself and realize, alright, what role am I playing that all the relationships in my life have always had the same patterns,’ he told Power 105.1’s ‘The Breakfast Club’.
‘It kinda plays into everything else I was mentioning earlier, the co-dependency aspect like, any time I’m in a relationship, I feel like I gotta dance or do a certain thing to keep this person around, almost tying my self-worth to the success of a relationship, and you realize how much you lose yourself and doing the things that you love and things that take care of you on a daily basis.’
He also seemingly suggested that making Plum ‘the center of [his] universe’ was ‘unhealthy’ for both of them.
‘Realizing that and realizing the impact that it was having on me, as far as making decisions that were authentic for the life that I wanted, these are things that I couldn’t say 100 percent yes to.
With the Dolphins, Waller hauled in 24 receptions for 283 yards and six touchdowns
Waller previously offered a candid insight into his divorce from WNBA star Plum
‘You have certain conversations and realize there’s so much life ahead of both of us, might as well just go ahead and live it and move on and no type of hostility,’ he explained.
The move to Carolina reunites Waller with assistant coach Darrell Bevell, who served as Miami’s passing game coordinator during Waller’s time in South Beach.
Waller now joins a young Carolina tight end room featuring Ja’Tavion Sanders and Tommy Tremble as the franchise seeks to upgrade its pass-catching options for quarterback Bryce Young.
The Panthers have struggled to generate consistent receiving output from the tight end position in recent years, failing to have a tight end eclipse 400 receiving yards in a single season since Greg Olsen in 2019.
