The New York Giants were informed by former tight end Darren Waller officially on Sunday evening that he was retiring from the NFL. Waller spent one season in New York after being traded from the Las Vegas Raiders last offseason. He had 52 receptions for 552 yards and only one touchdown in his lone season with Big Blue.
The retirement will save the Giants $11.6 million in cap space, but more importantly, it will pave the way for the current tight ends on the roster to get more playing time next season.
The Giants have a few intriguing tight ends on the roster
The Giants currently have four tight ends on the roster: Daniel Bellinger, Theo Johnson, Jack Stoll, and Chris Manhertz are all listed on the depth chart according to ESPN. Giants fans are already excited about Bellinger, who has shown flashes at times over his Giants tenure so far; but they are also excited about the new kid on the block.
Theo Johnson was a four-star recruit out of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He was revered and heavily recruited by nearly every top school in the country because of his ridiculous freak athleticism. He committed to Penn State over the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio State. The Giants selected Johnson in the fourth round of this year’s draft.
Theo Johnson is an exciting rookie talent
Johnson took some time to get involved with the Penn State offense, only playing in two games in the infamous COVID-19-affected 2020 season. He caught four passes for 56 yards and that was it in his freshman campaign — but to be fair they only played six games that season.
In 2021, he had much more of an impact in the offense, taking over the starting tight end position that was held by current Pittsburgh Steelers TE Pat Friermuth. He caught 19 passes for 213 yards and one touchdown in his first full feature campaign.
Many expected Johnson to skyrocket from that point forward statistically, which was the expectation for the Penn State offense in general when former five-star recruit QB Drew Allar replaced the longtime starter, Sean Clifford.
