“I don’t even know if playing football was a love. It was just that I’m good at it,” that’s Darren Waller for you. The guy chose his career where he was good instead of a career that he loved but still lasted for eight solid seasons in the NFL. Not that he’s too old for the game, he’s realized football wasn’t his passion. Sure, he was good at it—h*ll, he was a Pro Bowl tight end with a fat $35 million contract in his hand.

But he rejected it. For his love of music! Pretty wild, huh? But before you start thinking he’s out of his mind, it makes sense when you hear his story. See, Waller started football because deep down he knew it would give him money and status. At 6’6” and weighing 255 pounds, Waller had the fame, the fortune, and the WNBA champion fiancée (shout-out to Kelsey Plum). But the love for the game? Nah, that wasn’t there, and he started feeling isolated.

And in November 2023, he was diagnosed with a viral infection that made him unable to walk and feed himself. That felt like rubbing salt in the wound. That’d forced him to ask himself what was wrong. “It looked like all the boxes were checked, but I was so far away from a fulfilled life,” Waller said.

And that’s when he decided to walk away from football at 31 with $35 million on his contract and now he enjoys “a much simpler life.” Now, the 32-year-old former tight end spends his time with music, lifting weights, running, journaling, and meditating. It won’t be wrong to say that Waller found something that resonated with him on a deep level and shifted his energy towards music.

“I don’t want to make music from a place of lack, like I did with football,” Waller said last October. “Football was to fill a hole. I want to do music out of love.” That’s exactly what he’s doing now. That wasn’t easy though, right? I mean, he had to deal with substance abuse, dealing with emotional baggage, grinding on the gridiron. But at last, Darren Waller came to a decision. It’s not about the contract, the stats, or the spotlight anymore—it’s about creating something real.

Darren Waller’s diss track on ex-wife

Let’s shift to the big picture here. At one point in his life during his football days, Waller might have thought that his life is back on track. The reason? His ex-wife, Kelsey Plum, to whom he tied the knot on March 4, 2023. However, his commitment to football had other plans. “I was looking at [marriage to Kelsey] through the eyes of other people—like how it made me look,” Waller says. “Who would turn down somebody with her resume? But being traded [to the Giants in 2023] exposed everything that was going on within me. It put me back in the space of feeling isolated. I didn’t know people in [New York]. So I just retreated back to old habits.”

Wanna guess what happened next? The couple filed for divorce just one year after their marriage in April 2023. Following two more months, Waller parted ways with pro football and entered the music industry. But wait, Waller’s still out there making noises, but this time through his mic. Yeah, you heard that right.

The guy who walked away from America’s favorite sport to focus on music dropped a track called, “Who Knew.” And it wasn’t just any track. The fans declared that Darren Waller released a diss against his ex-wife, Kelsey. The track video is alleged to feature Waller and Plum reenacting their relationship’s ups and downs. And here is the kicker: the track ended with Plum stabbing him in the back on a beach. Ouch!

However, Darren Waller cleared his stance on the track, stating he wanted to, “step into someone else’s shoes and take an honest look at myself.” Furthermore, the tight end also declared that the song was more about growing and throwing shade. Either way, it’s safe to say the man is using his art to lay down some heavy feelings about his past.