Giants TE Darren Waller retires after 8 NFL seasons

New York Giants tight end Darren Waller announced his retirement on Sunday, explaining in a YouTube video that “the passion has slowly been fading.”

Waller, 31, also revealed that a “very scary” health emergency last November made him re-think where his life was at.

He did not name the medical condition, but Waller said he struggled to breathe and wound up spending 3 1/2 days in a hospital unable to stand, feed himself or use the bathroom.

“I come out of that experience and I’m sitting in the hospital,” Waller said, “and I go back into my daily life and I’m like, ‘Pretty clear, I almost just lost my life, and I don’t know if I really feel if I would have died that I would have felt great about how my life was going if I died at that time.’” It was reported last week that the Giants expected the veteran to retire.

“We have great respect for Darren as a person and player. We wish him nothing but the best,” the Giants said in a statement Sunday.

Waller spent the offseason contemplating his decision and was not with the team. He thanked the NFL in his video.

“Eternally grateful for the game of football. I wouldn’t be able to have this conversation or to think things through or be self-reflective if it wasn’t for an opportunity to save my life and go to rehab, which the NFL offered me,” he said. “They also gave me an opportunity to reestablish myself, to come back into the world and do something productive. Provide an example, be a leader, be a difference-maker in my craft but also in my day-to-day wherever I go.”