Darren Waller’s debut for Panthers is TBD. But how he feels? ‘Night and day’ from 2025
In Week 5 of last year’s NFL season — in only his second game back since coming out of retirement — tight end Darren Waller was on the Bank of America Stadium turf.
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And he felt like he was flying.
“It was kind of surreal,” Waller said as he recounted that Week 5 contest as a Miami Dolphin in which he hauled in five catches for 78 yards and a touchdown that nearly held off a 27-24 Panthers win.
“That first game (of 2025) it was a few targets, and I’ve always prided myself on being efficient with the number of opportunities that I’m getting,” Waller continued. “Then going into the Carolina game, it was like, third-down conversion, here comes a couple more completions. You’re not even really aware of the stats or anything. But I feel like I’m just doing what I want to do out here.”
That game wasn’t really emotional, he said. But it was validating. Affirming. It made him grateful. The former Pro Bowler and one of the most prolific receiving tight ends this decade — he had more than 1,000 receiving yards in 2019 and ‘20 with the Raiders — said he was done with the game at the conclusion of 2023. But something in mid-June of 2024 compelled him back. So he returned to the field. And on that October 2025 afternoon, in Charlotte, everything felt right.
That game feels far away now, for Waller and the rest of the Carolina Panthers. Waller has spent multiple stints on the Dolphins injured reserve since then; he only played in nine games in 2025. He’s also gone through an entire free agency period and a large portion of an offseason without being signed to a team after that Week 5 resurgence.
It’s been so long, in fact, that the Panthers and Waller have collided again. The Panthers officially announced that they signed Waller to their training camp roster on Monday morning. He was out on the grass during Monday’s padded practice, too, not in uniform but working out to the side. And afterward, the 6-foot-6, 238-pound tight end explained why he retired from the game of football in the first place — and why, after an injury plagued 2025, this year could be different.
“I really feel like there was something greater that was pushing me back into the game,” Waller said of his 2025 decision to come back to the NFL. “I felt like there was a lot left. I felt like, for the time I was on the field last year, it was really clear to me that I still had a lot left. And taking that into account, I felt like it was super important for me to respect the process in February up to this point, and being way more calloused in training camp than I was in training camp.”
He added: “Last year, going into camp, my first thought of playing football was mid-June, late-June. But as soon as the season ended last year, I was getting started the day after the Super Bowl and doing everything that’s necessary. … I’m night and day from last year to this year.”
That assessment of Waller’s physical readiness seems to align with head coach Dave Canales, who told reporters Monday that Waller tested really well in the team’s “return to play” process after passing his physical.
The timeline for Waller’s return is still up in the air, though, Canales said.
“Getting Darren rolling,” Canales said. “We’ll give him a day to recover (tomorrow), and then we’ll ramp it up a little bit more before we throw him out there in the mix.”
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Will Waller be ready for the joint practice with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Wednesday?
“I don’t think so,” Canales said. “Not in that setting. It’s a pretty combative type of deal, that joint practice. There’s a chance that he goes out for individual drills just to get him and (starting QB Bryce Young) throwing some. But we have to see how he recovers from the work today; we got after him pretty good today.”
Canales added that the starters will get “a big load” of playing time for the Jacksonville Jaguars joint practice on Wednesday, and that the starters will play in the preseason contest against the Jags on that Friday.
Waller told reporters that the deal came together after the Panthers reached out to him. He also said he wasn’t surprised by the slow comings of his offseason — he’s turning 34 in September, he cited, and he’s also coming off a year in which his availability week-in, week-out was thrust into question.
But he also made clear that he still has plenty to give to the Panthers.
“I was just allowing the process to be what it was,” Waller said. “Sometimes, you know, it can be like, ‘Damn, I’m doing all this work since the day after the Super Bowl, when is it going to happen?’ But uncertainty is kind of the name of the game. I’m new to this free agency situation, but it is what it is, and I’m grateful that it happened when it did.”
He added: “It starts getting built in April. In February, for individual training, but really for the team it’s April to June. That’s very valuable time that I missed. For me, I just gotta take it as, ‘This is where I’m at in my journey do the best I can every day.
‘I may not be where everybody else is as far as how they know the offense and they’re adapting and doing what they ask us to do. But in time, I feel like my ability to learn and adapt fast, I can just take it every day and earn a role out here.”
#Panthers newly signed tight end Darren Waller explains why he came out of retirement ahead of last season …
… and how his preparation ahead of 2026 is “night and day” from his promising but injury-plagued 2025. pic.twitter.com/eCA2eR7Nwr
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