Giants’ TE Darren Waller clarifies status of his hamstring

There has been concern about the health of New York Giants’ tight end Darren Waller since his name popped up on the injury report with a hamstring issue before the Week 1 game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Waller played in that game, catching three passes for 36 yards in 38 snaps.

This week, Waller was given a rest day on Wednesday and was listed as a limited practice participant on Thursday. That will likely be the plan for Waller all season.

“That’s something we planned all along, even really since we got him with the sports science and the medical staff,” head coach Brian Daboll said this week. “Those guys that are over 30 and have had a lot of wear and tear, that have played. We are going to give him a rest day. It’ll probably be once a week.”

Waller has missed 16 games over the past two seasons with injuries. He missed seven games for the Las Vegas Raiders with a hamstring injury. Thursday, Waller explained the current situation with his hamstring.

“I pulled my hamstring [last season], and you know sometimes it’s in that area,” he said. “Like maybe some scarring can get built up and that area can become just kind of like a lot going on in that area, it can compress the nerve a little bit, so you can feel a pinch a little bit, so it’s just a matter of getting that stuff out of there.”

Waller said he is fine with the limited practice plan the Giants have for him.

“I just trust whatever the coaches have in mind because I want to be out there and work and sometimes to my own determinate, I’ll run myself into the ground,” he said. “It’s good to have a plan and I feel like I am always going to trust what coaches and people above me have to say and their opinions, so I am just going to follow what they got, what they want me to do.”

The veteran tight end, the key player in the Giants’ hopes for a more explosive passing attack this season, does not have long-term concerns about the hamstring.

“No, not really just because as far as the severity of last year and the time it forced me to miss, it’s nowhere near that because last year there were times, where it was like, I legit can’t run because my hamstrings pulled, but I can run at practice, I can run routes and do it for two hours, so I’m like yeah, I feel great,” he said.