The Carolina Panthers are adding a familiar name to their tight end room. Carolina has agreed to terms with veteran tight end Darren Waller on a one-year contract, the team’s latest move to bolster its passing attack ahead of the 2026 season.
According to Yahoo Sports, citing ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Waller has agreed to terms on the deal. Financial specifics have not been disclosed. The team has not yet made the signing official — per Panthers.com, a corresponding roster move still needs to be made before the deal can be finalized.
Waller is expected to join the roster ahead of Carolina’s second preseason game this Saturday.
What Waller Brings to Carolina
Waller, 33, spent the 2025 season with the Miami Dolphins after coming out of retirement. He appeared in nine games, catching 24 passes for 283 yards and six touchdowns — numbers that made him a legitimate red-zone weapon even in limited action. According to NBC Sports, a groin injury ended his season before Miami’s Week 18 game, and he’d also missed time earlier in the year with a pectoral injury.
His best football came years earlier. A sixth-round pick out of Georgia Tech by the Baltimore Ravens in 2015, Waller broke out with the Las Vegas Raiders, posting back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2019 and 2020 and earning a Pro Bowl nod. Las Vegas rewarded him with a three-year, $51 million extension in 2022, but traded him to the New York Giants the following year. He played one season in New York, then retired.
He didn’t stay retired long. Waller un-retired in 2024 when the Dolphins traded a sixth-round pick to the Giants to acquire his rights, according to ESPN. He told people close to him he simply missed football.
Fills a Need at Tight End
The move addresses a spot fans and analysts have flagged all offseason. Carolina entered Wednesday with roughly $8.5 million in cap space — among the tightest situations in the league, according to Pro Football Rumors — but still found room for a low-cost, low-risk addition at the position.
Reports differ slightly on the exact tight end depth chart Waller is walking into, but Tommy Tremble and Ja’Tavion Sanders have been the primary names throughout camp, with Mitchell Evans, James Mitchell and Caden Prieskorn also in the mix. That group combined for just three touchdowns at the position in 2025, a number Waller’s red-zone production should immediately threaten to improve.
| Category | 2025 Stat |
|---|---|
| Games Played | 9 |
| Receptions | 24 |
| Receiving Yards | 283 |
| Touchdowns | 6 |
Quarterback Bryce Young gains a bigger-bodied target over the middle, something the offense has lacked. Waller isn’t likely to be a volume target — his role probably looks closer to what he did in Miami, a situational red-zone weapon rather than a full-time starter — but for a team that made a surprise playoff run a year ago, marginal additions like this one matter.
Coming Off a Playoff Run
Carolina went 8-9 last season but still claimed the NFC South title and made the playoffs for the first time since 2017. The Panthers pulled off one of the season’s bigger upsets in Week 13, beating the Los Angeles Rams 31-28 at Bank of America Stadium. The two teams met again in the Wild Card round, where Carolina’s season ended in a 34-31 loss, according to the team’s official 2025 season record.
Waller’s addition comes as the Panthers try to build on that surprise run, with a defense bolstered by offseason free-agent additions and a coaching staff looking for more consistency out of the passing game in year two under Dave Canales and Dan Morgan.
