Darren Waller is chalking up the weird subplot of his Vegas exit as a misunderstanding.
The tight end was moved to the New York Giants over the offseason. Right after it happened, it was revealed Waller was miffed that Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels had inadvertently leaked the date of his wedding at the NFL Combine.
Waller got married in March to Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum. A story was run in the Las Vegas Review-Journal run announcing the wedding was happening, and that they knew because McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler had confirmed it.
When Waller was traded 10 days later, word spread that he had been upset that McDaniels leaked the date of the wedding. Waller weighed in on the situation during an appearance Monday on Boomer & Gio.
“Honestly, I feel like it was a misunderstanding,” Waller said. “Because I told him about it and I feel like there wasn’t any malice in how it came out.”
That’s when Waller offered up the backstory of telling McDaniels he was getting engaged.
“The bye week is when I went to propose to my wife, I’ll give you the story,” Waller said. “You’re mandated Thursday to Sunday off, right? I pulled my hamstring in the Kansas City game that Monday, and I knew there was no way I was playing in (our next) game. And also, there’s no way you’re going to stop me from proposing to my wife."
Because Waller was hurt and would need treatment during the bye, that theoretically would have impacted his ability to leave Vegas to go propose. So, he planned accordingly.
“I went to them and in secrecy, I was like I don’t want to share this information, I want to keep it private, I don’t want it to get out. Eventually it did. I know he didn’t do it to mess up my day …
“I organized treatment with the team (while I was) away – like hey, I’m going to do something. This is eternal, right, this is my wife, so I’m not staying here. I’m going to set this up away from here and I’m going to work and be a pro, but this just is what it is. I made a decision and I stuck with it.”
It’s not clear what specifically McDaniels said about the wedding. In any event, Waller and Plum had intended to keep their wedding plans private, and at least partially because of a comment from McDaniels, it got out.
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