When Darren Waller first realized he wasn’t just playing football, he was people-pleasing, hiding an emptiness he’d carried since addiction and suspensions shadowed his early career. He once overdosed in college, then clawed back, only to find validation through stats, not fulfillment. By the time he signed with the Giants, that tug-of-war between external success and internal void had become deafening, his passion eroding beneath fame and high stakes. Mid‑season, during a game where he felt like a fullback, Waller paused in the first quarter and asked himself, “What the f–- am I doing?” Soon after came a terrifying hospital stay—chest pain, lost consciousness, 3½ days admitted—that shook the foundation of his choices. That near-death moment didn’t just jolt his body—it cracked open his heart, making the decision to walk away from millions feel not only possible, but necessary.
The result? Waller still had over $32 million on the table for the next three years. But rather than playing for the Giants with that void in his head, the NFL legend decided to hang up his cleats to chase his actual dream—singing. After all, legendary blues singer Fats Waller was his great-grandfather. It was almost meant to be. Recently, Waller stopped by The Zac Clark Show, where he revealed why he left football for music.
“There’s money left on the table, and you decide you’re gonna walk away,” Clark asked Waller. The former TE’s response? Well, he laid down everything without hesitation, stating, “The next three years would have been like $32 million…And I had to write a check to walk away. I had to write back $750,000 in bonus money to the Giants to walk away.”
Waller signed a three-year, $51 million contract back in 2022 before being traded to the Giants. But after suffering a hamstring injury in week 8, the TE never returned to the gridiron in his true self. A year later, he decided to call it quits, to pursue a music career, despite being on an active contract with the Giants.
And when asked to talk about his music career, Waller admitted that he put all his energy into football just because he felt like he had to make it work, like he had no other option. But while choosing music as a career? He chose a different path just for himself, not because someone expected it, but because it felt right to him. “I feel like I took the forefront, and I just poured it all into making football work,” Waller added.
“This is like another opportunity for me to say, like this is the life that I’m choosing. I want to live like this is an opportunity for me to receive that, but also not let it dictate what I feel like I need to be doing or what lane I feel like I need to be trapped and I’m doing what I want to do. I feel like there’s something for me. There’s a journey for me in this.”
Now, it’s not the first time he has spoken about music. A few years ago, he explained the positives it brought to his life. “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.”
Right after that, the NFL legend recalled the famous Jim Carrey quote, stating, “The Jim Carry quote is, he said, ‘ I wish everyone could get everything they’ve ever wanted in life to realize that it’s never enough.’” And just like that, Darren Waller eventually got what he actually wanted. Not because he had to prove anything. But he wanted to make music because it felt right to him.
Darren Waller turned heads with his new music release
It all started as a hobby, and Darren Waller has now made music his full-time career. While it’s been over a year since he announced his retirement and over a couple of years since we last saw him on the gridiron, Waller has still been turning heads. But this time, he’s not catching passes, he’s catching melodies. For a pretty good time, he turned a few heads with his diss track after going through a divorce last year. The target?
Of course, his ex-wife and WNBA star Kelsey Plum. But now, that thing is done and dusted. And Waller’s now making waves through his music again. Just last month, the former NFL tight end announced the drop of his new song through his official ‘X’ handle. “Streets Get Cold Music Video premieres tonight 9pm PT / 12am ET,” the caption read. The music video featured J-Rod alongside Waller, as both of ’em were rocking in full street fashion. Matching the vibe of the track itself.
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“That’s one benefit of working with JRod. He’s also an R&B artist, that’s his realm,” Waller said. “So that’s invited me more into taking risks in that type of environment, that type of vibe and kinda just the way my life has headed, I’ve had experiences to where it’s kind of forced me to open my heart up. I have like experiences of love and R&B type of topics to talk about now ‘cause I’ve kind of lived through things. So it’s a natural process of yeah, I’ve gotten to that point in my life where I’m able to talk about these things and I have somebody that I’m with that kinda challenges me to kinda go in that direction.”
PALE1080 produced the track, a French music producer known for his melodic, emotion-driven beats, while ARod2Up took up the role of direction. Although Waller announced it a month ago, the track is now streaming across platforms and has already racked up over 50K views on YouTube. All in all, it’s safe to say that ditching the football gig to try his luck in the music world is turning out to be a good decision for Darren Waller. After all, he isn’t doing this to prove something.
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