Giants' Darren Waller Says Nerve Issue May be Cause of Hamstring Injury | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Darren Waller told reporters on Wednesday that the injured right hamstring he's dealing with early in the 2023 season is the same one that caused him to miss time with the Las Vegas Raiders last season, though a different issue is behind this injury.

"I still have people on working me, a team, and it wasn't the same degree of strain as last year," the New York Giants' tight end said. "It more so has to do with the nerve that was behind it. So it's not really a muscular issue. It was more so a little bit something different, like nerve-wise."

Waller was relatively quiet in his Giants debut, catching just three passes for 36 yards on five total targets. He played 38 total snaps, and his public comments made it sound as though the Giants didn't ask him to run a full complement of plays after he went into the game with a questionable designation.

"I was able to go out there and do all the snaps they asked me to do and not have it affect me," he told reporters. "There were some running real deep down the field where it might nip a little bit, but as far as everything that was asked [of] me, I was fine."

Nonetheless, starting the season battling through another hamstring injury was frustrating for the veteran tight end.

"I felt like I would be able to play," he said. "[It was] just a little frustrating to not be able to have that entire week rhythm that you usually have as a player of those full practices to be like, 'Alright, I feel great about everything this week.' But I felt like I'd be fine."

Waller, 31, emerged as one of the NFL's dynamic talents at tight end for the Raiders in the 2019 season, catching 90 passes for 1,145 yards and three touchdowns. He followed that up with 107 receptions for 1,146 yards and nine scores in 2020, earning his first and only Pro Bowl bid that season.

Injuries limited him to just 20 games between the 2021-22 campaigns, and the Raiders traded him to the Giants this offseason for a third-round pick.

That gave New York and quarterback Daniel Jones a much-needed weapon in the passing game as the team looked to replicate its playoff berth from a season ago. If Waller struggles to stay healthy, however, the Giants will need to lean heavily on running back Saquon Barkley yet again given an underwhelming receiver group.