Giants Add Waller

The New York Giants are finalizing a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for star TE Darren Waller.

The Giants will send a 2023 third-round pick, 100th overall, to Vegas. The trade on Tuesday afternoon gives the Giants a much needed boost on offense. Waller, 30, burst onto the NFL scene in the 2019 season where he racked up 90 catches for 1,145 yards and 3 touchdowns. Waller followed up that 2019 season with an All-Pro season in 2020 and career highs in catches, yards, and touchdowns. Since then, he has struggled to stay on the field, playing only 20 games in two years, as injuries have lingered. When healthy, Darren Waller is one of the best tight ends in the league.

The draft pick the Giants used to get Waller was from a trade earlier in the season at the trade deadline. The Giants traded WR Kadarius Toney to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Giants getting Waller gives them a weapon on offense. Trading Kadarius Toney, the lackluster signing of Kenny Golladay two offseasons ago, and the injury to veteran WR Sterling Shepard left the Giants with no real threat in the passing game. The Giants made a playoff run in the 2022 season with an inexperienced group of pass-catchers, winning their wild card matchup with the Minnesota Vikings and then were dominated by the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round.

QB Daniel Jones was signed to a four-year $140 million extension, and he never really had a big threat in the passing game. The Giants traded superstar WR Odell Beckham Jr. a month before they took their new franchise quarterback 6th overall in the 2019 NFL Draft. Now, he has a security blanket at tight end, and a pretty good one. The Giants will have Waller under contract for the next four seasons, due to an extension he signed with the Raiders back in September. He will earn $12.475 million in 2023, $12 million in 2024, $13 million in 2025, and $15 million in 2026. The trade has very little downside, and a lot of upside. If Waller doesn’t pan out, the salary cap won’t be threatened. If he returns to form, the Giants have one of the best players at the tight end position for the foreseeable future.