The career resurrection of former Baltimore Ravens tight end Darren Waller continues.
“Former Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller and the Carolina Panthers reached agreement today on a one-year deal, per source,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on his official X account on Wednesday night.
Waller, 6-foot-6 and 238 pounds, came out of retirement and brought his career back to life with the Miami Dolphins in 2025 on a 1-year, $3 million contract.
Waller was drafted by the Ravens in the 6th round (No. 204 overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Georgia Tech and played his 1st 4 seasons in Baltimore — a stretch that included multiple suspensions for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, including the entire 2017 season.
The Panthers are coming off their 1st NFC South Division title since 2015.
“To add to this, I’m told by a league source that this move is not injury-related,” ESPN’s Mike Kaye wrote on his official X account. “Waller played under new Panthers associate head coach Darrell Bevell in Miami last season. Bevell was the passing game coordinator for the Dolphins and Waller is a pass-catching tight end.”
Waller was a Pro Bowl selection for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020.
“During a rough 2025 for the Dolphins, Waller’s comeback saw surprising success and offered one of the club’s few highlights,” NFL.com’s Grant Gordon wrote on July 31. “Waller’s best years were 2019-2020 with the Raiders, turning in back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and earning a Pro Bowl selection.”
Darren Waller Buzzy Name for Ravens in Offseason
In April, Sports Illustrated’s Jason La Canfora listed Waller as the “Best Fit” for the Ravens in free agency.
Waller was incredibly effective with 24 receptions for 283 yards and 6 touchdowns in just 9 games for the Dolphins in 2025.
“(Waller) didn’t unretire like three times to end up signing with some scrub team like the Giants and Dolphins teams he was spinning his wheels with,” La Canfora wrote. “He still has more big-play ability at this stage than Mark Andrews and won’t cost you close to the $13M they overpaid to extend Andrews at a mind-numbing time. After being one that got away given how he left Baltimore in the first place, it would be a cool circle closing to grab him at the end of his career. Instead of wasting more money on overpaid wide receivers at the very end, Waller can be that veteran presence and voice of reason, and with him overcoming addiction and achieving what he has, he’d be a strong presence given how inexperienced this coaching staff is.”
Darren Waller’s Strange Path to NFL Stardom
Waller made a bizarre decision to retire and launch a music career following the 2023 season, but returned to the NFL in 2025, when the Dolphins traded a 2026 6th-round pick to the New York Giants for Waller and a 2027 7th-round pick.
The path to NFL stardom for Waller actually began with some pretty tough lessons with the Baltimore Ravens, where he was a 6th-round pick (No. 204 overall) out of Georgia Tech in the 2015 NFL draft — back when Waller was still a wide receiver.
Waller played 6 games as a rookie before ending the season on injured reserve, then switched to tight end in 2016 but was suspended for the 1st 4 games of the season for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.
He violated the league’s substance-abuse policy again shortly after and was suspended for the entire 2017 season and released in August 2018. The Ravens signed him to the practice squad but didn’t play him in 2018, and he eventually wound up with the Las Vegas Raiders, where he played 4 games that season before putting up consecutive 1,100-yard receiving seasons in 2019 and 2020.
Raiders Made Darren Waller NFL’s Highest-Paid TE
After Waller had 55 receptions for 665 yards and 2 touchdowns in 11 games in 2021, the Raiders made him the highest-paid tight end in NFL history with a 3-year, $51 million contract extension in September 2022.
After playing just 9 games due to injuries in 2022, the Raiders traded him to the New York Giants just 6 months after he signed his new deal.
“Obviously, Darren was a big part of what our plan was, obviously by the contract he signed,” Raiders owner Mark Davis told ESPN. “Things didn’t work out last year, just based on health. You know, we didn’t quite get the Darren Waller that could have really helped us even more.”
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