Top Giants Weapon Says He'll Play vs Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals play host to the New York Giants in Week 2 of NFL action, and the Giants are expected to have one of their top weapons in TE Darren Waller out on the field.

That's according to the player himself, who spoke with reporters today:

Darren Waller doesn’t anticipate the hamstring limiting him at all:

“Nah, I’m playing,” he said.

The Giants play the Cardinals on Sunday in Arizona.

Is the hamstring any concern long term or moving forward?

“No, not really.”

Waller said last year’s hamstring injury was…
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) September 14, 2023

Waller established himself as one of the top tight ends in the game with the Las Vegas Raiders before being dealt to New York in the offseason for a third-round pick.

Waller was questionable heading into Week 1's 40-0 loss against the Dallas Cowboys with a hamstring injury, though he managed to play. Waller reeled in three receptions for 36 yards during the loss.

“I was able to go out there and do all the snaps they asked me to do and not have it affect me,” Waller said, suggesting it was a nerve in the hamstring. “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.”

Waller was marked as DNP (did not participate) during Wednesday's practice with a "hamstring/rest" tag on the injury report. He was one of ten Giants on the list.

On top of Waller, the Giants also tout QB Daniel Jones and RB Saquon Barkley, both of whom are familair with Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, who spent time in Philadelphia and played New York twice a season.

“Every year is a new year, so my familiarity is they’re two really good players and understand how we have to defend them because of their skill sets. Saquon’s a high-volume guy that can beat you in the run and pass game, breaks a lot of tackles, he’s explosive, he has good vision and he’s fast," Gannon said.

"Daniel’s got a big arm, he’s hard to sack, he extends plays, he breaks tackles and he’s a runner. They use him in a way that makes it hard on a defense so that’s shown up from when we were playing them in the same division, that showed up against Dallas, and that’s going to continue to show up because they do a good job of maximizing those two guys.”