Darren Waller surprised everyone when he hung up his boots last year at the age of 31. However, he didn’t reach that conclusion lightly. Behind his decision, there was careful thought about preserving his mental health and dealing with issues that arrived in his life due to drugs and failed relationships.
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Now, he is slowly trying to put his life back together every day. But how did his tryst with drugs start?
Waller answered these tough questions on the latest episode of Revolt Sports Weekly with Brandon Marshall. According to him, his drug issue started back in his Sophomore year of high school when his friends introduced him to the world of powerful narcotics.
It started with a little weed, before he moved on to Cocaine, followed by anything he could get his hands on.
The former Giants TE stressed that he was in a bad mental place, dealing with depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem issues. He was hurting from the inside and didn’t think twice before taking anything that helped him calm down.
“Drugs for me, Sophomore year of high school. Friends of mine had discovered hydrocodone and oxycodone in their parents’ medicine cabinets. They offered some to me through the lens of like this will make you feel good. At the time, I was really depressed. First time I took it, I was like this is what I need.”
Addiction and dependency issues popped up from there, and with that came the consequences. His high school coach kicked him from the basketball team, and even Georgia Tech suspended him. He even got arrested. That pattern continued in the NFL, with the Ravens suspending him twice and the league banning him.
“I saw a lot of consequences pretty early on. Kicked off my high school basketball team my junior year, suspended twice from Georgia Tech, arrested three times, suspended twice from the Ravens, banned from the league for the second time. For me, I was latched in early and couldn’t give it up. Those hooks were deep. It took having crash and burn, OD to step back and wonder what am I really doing.”
After an incident in a store parking lot, following a drug relapse, Waller knew something had to change. He was spiraling — and he couldn’t outrun it anymore. It took hard work, a lot of pain, and relentless effort, but he eventually made it through to the other side. Waller sought help from addiction specialists, entered rehab, and slowly began to rebuild both his life and his football career.
Drugs were never the answer — they didn’t solve his problems; they only numbed them. Like many struggling with addiction, Waller was dealing with deep-rooted mental health issues. But instead of seeking real support, he tried to face those demons alone. In hindsight, had he reached out to those closest to him, maybe some of the suffering could’ve been avoided.
Still, it took hitting rock bottom — all the drama, the consequences, the near-misses — for him to finally get the help he needed and make a lasting change.
Waller is still an addict, but now he’s a recovering one. Sobriety isn’t a finish line; it’s a lifelong marathon. Like countless others fighting to stay clean and keep their lives together, he knows it’s a battle that has to be fought every single day.
