Ronald Kyle Clifton (born August 23, 1962) is an American former 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 ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for 13 seasons with the for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). After playing

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 ...

for the

TCU Horned Frogs The TCU Horned Frogs are the athletic teams that represent Texas Christian University. The 18 varsity teams participate in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division I and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football, competi ...

, he was selected by the Jets in the third round of the

1984 NFL draft The 1984 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The NFL draft, draft was held May 1–2, 1984 NFL season, ...

with the 64th overall pick. He led the NFL in solo

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

with 160 in 1985, 174 in 1986 and 162 in 1988. Additionally, he was in the top 10 of NFL solo tacklers in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991. He briefly took the lead in career combined tackles away from Clay Matthews in 1993. He announced his retirement on February 14, 1997. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-leading tackler in NFL history and remains the Jets' all-time leading tackler. Clifton made 1,484 tackles over the course of his professional career ranking him 10th overall in combined tackles since 1987. Clifton attended high school in

Bridgeport, Texas Bridgeport is a city in Wise County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,923 in 2020. In 2009, Bridgeport was named by the Texas Legislature as the Stagecoach Capital of Texas. History Bridgeport's history began in February 1860 when Wil ...

NFL career statistics

Regular season

References

1962 births Living people People from Olney, Texas Players of American football from Young County, Texas American football linebackers TCU Horned Frogs football players New York Jets players 20th-century American sportsmen {{linebacker-1960s-stub