Darren Waller

My life was rough for a while, and a lot of people may have it rough at certain times. But that situation is only temporary, and if I can use my voice to communicate that to them and see that there is another side, a brighter side, to whatever they may be going through, then I feel that is a purpose of mine.

You can have great intentions and want to impress people so you can get to where you want to go, but you don't want to do all that at the expense of who you are and what you stand for and value.

It can be easy to get caught up into how the world can wash you in different directions. It's stressful. There's a lot of pressures and things can spiral out of control.

I was spending so much time trying to fit an image and trying to portray myself as something that wasn't me. I knew I was uncomfortable with it, but in a way, I felt like, this is what I have to do. It collapsed my spirits as time went along.

I'm not afraid to be honest.

Football is a humbling game, for real. You feel like you can't buy a break sometimes, but it's all about navigating those highs and lows and not riding the emotional roller coaster.

I feel like adversity in my life is what has taught me the most and given me the most wisdom.

I never thought I'd be playing pro. I didn't really think that I was going to be playing in college or professionally, but I just kept getting better, bigger, and stronger, and things just happened.

What expectations really do is reflect our impatience and our insecurities, our inability to live life on life's terms.

Being traded itself was not a surprise. Going to the Giants was a surprise.

People don't see a lot of the human element when it comes to moving across the country, finding somewhere to live, you don't have any friends.

I'm a guy who's evolving, who's growing, who's played a lot of football and been through a lot.

There's so much that goes into the process of going from April through February of an NFL season. The commitment that it requires.

I didn't have a lot of confidence in myself. When things got tough, and I had to make something happen, I'd just kind of freeze up or psych myself out.

We have abilities as athletes, but at the end of the day, we're humans.

I was acting out of nature, trying to do things to please people or please myself. And I know now that I can't be moving like that anymore.

My great-grandfather is where I channeled making my own music from.

I have a lot of good memories playing for the Raiders and in front of the fans. Just a lot of good years. Getting traded doesn't take that away at all.

Icy Hot helps me out tremendously, it's something I've had in my repertoire for a couple years now.

Icy Hot has stepped in and been reliable for the aches and pains of the day-to-day process of being an NFL player.

We don't judge people off of one day, however good or however bad they are. We judge them off of how they respond to adversity and how they move about their journey.

Nothing is ever as bad as it seems.

Josh McDaniels knows ball. That hasn't been his problem. He taught me a lot, like on return routes, having the toe perpendicular to the line of scrimmage.

I was a special teams player my first two years and wasn't a main contributor in an offense until Year 5.

I'm naturally a mellow guy. I wouldn't squash a grape if I wasn't playing football.

I'm as far from perfect as anybody can possibly be.

I feel like things happened the way they were supposed to happen for me and my life and there were lessons I took from it and I got great work at just being patient.

I guess it's just for my size and my weight and I guess the way that I run and the multitude of routes that I try to be comfortable running. A lot of guys don't necessarily do that.

I'm always open to changing the way that I do things.

In the league, it's tough to win week-in, week-out. It's tough to win year-to-year.

One of the biggest things in my life now is service. Any example of service is inspirational.

There is no much greater cause of service than people in the military.

Vick was one of the first Black quarterbacks that I'd ever seen.

If you spend a lot of time stressing over things you can't control, you're going to be miserable, you're going to be frustrated.

We live in the instant gratification world. And the route of playing core-four special teams for a couple of years and not really getting an opportunity to be like a mainstay in the offensive game plan until Year 5 - that's not the route a lot of people want; but in that route, there's a lot of character developing in that process.

I feel like the moment I started investing in better daily habits of taking care of myself and making sure I was growing as a human being, my play started to get better instantly in my training and practices and games.

I know what it's like to be somewhere I'm not being idolized or cheered for.

I was working at a farmer's market for, like, seven months when I was out of the league, so I don't get too high or too low.

Music was a way for me to almost speak things into existence before they even happened and to build confidence.

When I was a teenager, I was a real sensitive kid.

I believe wholeheartedly in myself, and I believe that through action and through consistent performance, Giants fans will believe as well.

The partnership with Invisalign came together pretty organically. I had some gaps in between my teeth. So, once it was proposed to me, I was like I feel this would be the perfect fit.

You hear how high class of an organization the Giants is, and then you get here and you get to experience that and how they treat people.

I feel like with what I've done in my career so that expectations are going to be high for some people because I've shown what I'm capable of doing. I embrace that and I realize that I don't try to live off other people's expectations but more so set a standard for myself.

I try and connect with fans on Instagram whenever I can and let them know that I see them and I am there, and that I am just a normal human being who had to overcome some stuff.

I can mess around with a beat for fun during the season, but I don't get to spend an extended amount of time. So I like to get most of my music work done before the season gets going.

Saying I am the top dog doesn't do too much for me, because things change week to week.

I just need to be the best me I can possibly be. That makes my life a lot simpler.

I spent almost 25 years of my life thinking I wasn't good enough. On the field, it was like, 'Don't drop this, don't drop this, don't drop this.' Instead of being like, 'I'm going to make this play.'

As soon as I started turning over my will and my life to God, things turned around.