Dhani Makalani Jones (born February 22, 1978) 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 11 seasons in 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). 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 ...

for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

, earning All-Big Ten honors for three straight seasons. He was selected by the

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

in the sixth round of the

2000 NFL draft The 2000 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Theat ...

and played for the team for four seasons. Jones also played for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

and the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

. In addition to his football career, Jones hosted the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

series ''

Dhani Tackles the Globe ''Dhani Tackles the Globe'' is an American documentary television series hosted by former NFL linebacker Dhani Jones of the Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles, that aired on the Travel Channel. The series follows Jones around the globe ...

'' and the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

show '' Ton of Cash''. Jones also was on the

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

series '' Adventure Capitalists''.

Early years

Jones was born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He attended middle school at Cabin John Middle School in

Potomac, Maryland Potomac () is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 47,018. It is named a ...

, where he played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. As a senior at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Jones was an All-Met, All-Western Region, and an All-County pick, and also was ranked the fifth best linebacker prospect in the Atlantic Coast Region despite missing most of the regular season with a ruptured disc he injured working out for Penn State earlier in the summer. Jones was also a varsity wrestler in high school, as well as a member of his high school's track team.

College career

At the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, Jones was a three time All-Big Ten honoree. As a sophomore, Jones started nine games at linebacker and finished second on the team with 90 tackles and six sacks, playing alongside

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

winner

Charles Woodson Charles Cameron Woodson (born October 7, 1976) is an American former professional football player who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons with the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers. He spent his first 14 seasons as ...

on Michigan's 1997 national champion squad. As a junior in 1998, Jones started at linebacker and finished with 72 tackles. Jones moved to strong side linebacker as a senior in 1999, and finished second on the team with 81 tackles. Jones is a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the ...

and is an initiate of the Epsilon chapter at the

Professional career

New York Giants

Jones was selected by the

in the sixth round of the

with the 177th overall pick. He played with the team until 2003.

Philadelphia Eagles

The

acquired Jones from the Giants as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2004. During Jones stint with the Eagles, he started in

Super Bowl XXXIX Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League (NF ...

. On April 30, 2007, the Eagles released Jones.

New Orleans Saints

On July 6, 2007, Jones signed with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

, where he was thought to be able to push for a starting job. Jones, however, was released on September 1, 2007, during final roster cutdowns.

Cincinnati Bengals

On September 19, 2007, Jones signed a one-year contract with the Bengals. In the 2008 offseason, Jones signed a 3-year contract to return to the Bengals. Following the 2010 season, Jones' contract expired and he was not issued a new contract, so he became a free agent. Jones retired in October 2011.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Postseason

Post-playing career

''Dhani Tackles the Globe''

Jones was the star of ''

'', a series for the

in which he learns how to play international sports that are unknown to most Americans. For example, in the first season he played

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

for English club, Blackheath. The show ran for two seasons.

''Adventure Capitalists''

Jones was a host/investor on the series '' Adventure Capitalists''. This series first aired on August 22, 2016, on

. Jones and other investors listen to pitches and try out products from new entrepreneurs. Jones and the other investors decided if they would like to invest in the entrepreneurs outdoor/adventure company.

Business ventures

In 2010, Jones opened the Bow Tie Cafe in the historic Mount Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati, which sells coffee, drinks, cafe sandwiches. Jones is a partner of VMG Creative, a New York City creative agency, with clients such as Michael Kors, Capital One, Estee Lauder, P&G. Jones founded a creative agency, Proclamation, based in Cincinnati, and is chairman of Qey Capital Partners, an investment fund, both based in Cincinnati. Jones is the CEO of Petram Data, a Company that uses pre-trained AI Models to reduce marketing spend and improve

customer retention Customer retention refers to the ability of a company or product to retain its customers over some specified period. High customer retention means customers of the product or business tend to return to, continue to buy or in some other way not defe ...

Personal life

In addition to his prowess as a professional athlete, Jones has shown a variety of skills off the field. Jones founded a company that sells high-end bowties, and he also wrote movie reviews and commentary for Page 2 on

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

. Jones is also an avid cyclist, using his

fixed-gear bicycle A fixed-gear bicycle or fixie is a bicycle that has a drivetrain with no freewheel mechanism, meaning the pedals always spin together with the rear wheel. The freewheel was developed early in the history of bicycle design but the fixed-gear ...

to commute to practices and games throughout the year. He also participated in the cycling leg of the Durham Doughman Challenge on Travel Channel's ''

Man v. Food ''Man v. Food'' is an American food reality television series. It premiered on December 3, 2008 on the Travel Channel. The program was originally hosted by actor and food enthusiast Adam Richman. In each episode, Richman explores the "big foo ...

''. The challenge was a team quadrathlon consisting of running, swimming, cycling and food eating. On June 7, 2011, Jones' book, ''The Sportsman: Unexpected Lessons from an Around-the-World Sports Odyssey'', was released. The book talks about his experiences in football, travel, and life in general. Jones is committed to several

Cincinnati, OH Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of whic ...

charities and nonprofits. Among other positions, he serves on the boards of Breakthrough Cincinnati and the

Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ...

. Jones founded a philanthropic organization, BowTie Cause, in 2010.

Television

*''

'' (2009–2010) – Host – Travel Channel *''Timeless'' – Host – ESPN *'' Ton of Cash'' (2011) – Host – VH1 Playbook360 (2011–2016) - Host - Spike *''GT Academy'' (2012–2014) – Host – Spike TV *'' Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge'' (2016–2017 ) – Host – NBC *'' Adventure Capitalists'' (2016–2017) – Host – CNBC