Jaelon Darden (born January 14, 1999) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

. He was drafted by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

in the fourth round of the

2021 NFL draft The 2021 NFL draft was the 86th National Football League draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland, Ohio from April 29 to May ...

Early life

Darden attended Eisenhower High School in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. He earned all-district honors as a quarterback in 2015. He was considered a 3-star wide receiver coming out of high school. He committed to the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

to play

on February 1, 2017 over offers from

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, Memphis, Southern Miss,

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

, and

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

, among others.

College career

Darden played at North Texas from 2017 to 2020. During his career he had a school record 230 receptions for 2,782 yards and 38 touchdowns. As a senior in 2020, he was the

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

MVP and was named an All-American by

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and ''

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'' after recording 74 receptions for 1,190 yards and 19 touchdowns. He was also a finalist for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award.

College statistics

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Darden was drafted by the

in the fourth round, 129th overall, of the

. He signed his four-year rookie contract with Tampa Bay on May 19, 2021. He was waived on December 6, 2022.

Cleveland Browns

Darden was claimed off waivers by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

on December 7, 2022. On August 29, 2023, Darden was waived by the Browns and re-signed to the practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 15, 2024. On August 27, 2024, Darden was waived by the Browns and re-signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on September 7, but waived a week later. Darden was re-signed to the practice squad on September 17. He was promoted to the active roster on October 29, but waived on December 4.

Seattle Seahawks

On December 5, 2024, Darden was claimed off waivers by the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

References

External links

North Texas Mean Green bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darden, Jaelon 1999 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportsmen Players of American football from Houston American football wide receivers North Texas Mean Green football players All-American college football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Cleveland Browns players Seattle Seahawks players