Jamie Donnell Dukes (born June 14, 1964) 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 center for 10 seasons for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

, and

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

, 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). 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

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University (FSU) located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I, prima ...

, earning consensus

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors in 1985.

Early life

Dukes was born in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

. He attended Evans High School in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

College career

Dukes was an

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative (Netherlands), Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tende ...

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

and became the fifth player in FSU history to earn consensus All-America honors when he was named to virtually every team as a senior in 1985. From 1982 to 1985 he started every single game finishing with 48 total starts. And behind the lead of Dukes over the course of those four years. Following his illustrious career with

, Dukes signed with the

as a free agent in 1986. Dukes rated #46 in the

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

All-Time Player Countdown to Kickoff. In 1991, Dukes was elected into the FSU Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Despite a strong showing at

, Dukes went

undrafted 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 ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

. He began his career with the

playing for 8 seasons up to the end of

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. He finished his career in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

playing in 110 games for the

Falcons Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distribu ...

. The following year, he signed a 1-year deal with Green Bay and started 6 games for the Packers. In

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, Dukes signed another 1-year contract, this time with the

. He had started 8 games that season. At the end of the year, Dukes retired, completing his career playing in 124 games, and starting 62. He fumbled 6 times in his career 5 recovered by his own team and 1 recovered by the opponent's team for a total of -6 yards

Post-playing career

Television/Radio

Dukes joined NFL Network in 2006 as an analyst on NFL Total Access and NFL GameDay Scoreboard alongside Paul Burmeister and

Tom Waddle Gregory Thomas Waddle (born February 20, 1967) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). Waddle is currently a co-host of ''"Waddle and Silvy"'' on ''ES ...

. He is also a regular contributor to NFL.com. During NFL Network's

Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to ...

schedule, Dukes, Paul Burmeister and Bucky Brooks can be seen providing complementary coverage on NFL.com/LIVE: Thursday Night Football. He also participated in the NFL Network's coverage of the

2008 NFL draft The 2008 NFL draft was the 73rd NFL draft, annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York (state), New York ...

as a desk host in New York and helped cover the 2009 Pro-Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii, interviewing players for NFL Total Access. Dukes is an actor in a compelling documentary on the effect of

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

on NFLers and their Families. From sleeplessness to suicide, it reveals a hard portrait of life after the gridiron. Dukes was one of the most popular hosts on WZGC 92.9 FM The Game and left October 2015 due to health problems January 2016 Dukes and Chad Ochocinco started the Ochocinco and Dukes Podcast on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. Dukes is the national spokesman for the NFL's Healthy Heart Campaign, Fitness Integrated with Teaching (FIT) Kids Act and REALIZE® Adjustable Gastric Band.

Health

2008 Dukes had gastric band procedure to help lose weight. The Put Up Your Dukes Foundation was founded by Jamie and his wife Angela Dukes in 2009. As of 2010, Dukes spearheaded a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

, weight-loss program called the "Billion Pound Blitz Initiative". Duke is Senior VP of Community Relations & Strategic Partnerships for Hydro One a healthy, nutritional, vitamin infused beverage. His 2012 season will include analyst duties on the United Football League broadcasts on

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports ...

according to a league media guide. He also hosts the Rick and Jamie show on WZGC-FM (Atlanta 92.9 The Game). January 29, 2015, Jamie Dukes seeks fellow ex-NFLers for study to treat depression in the foyer of

Georgia State Capitol The Georgia State Capitol is an architecturally and historically significant building in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building has been named a National Historic Landmark which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As t ...

. Dukes is working with

anesthesiologist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative medicine, perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critica ...

Jarrod Huey who is involved with Atlanta-based DripFusion Institute in collaboration with several organizations including Florida State University College of Medicine

Author

Dukes wrote a book called "''Frenemals''", which talks about Family, Friends, and the Friends inside our head. This books is to help youth get a better understanding of self-awareness.

Charity Work

Working with Crosby Media Production and Braxton Cosby, Dukes Fat Free: Ask The Fat Doc, Jamie Dukes on his Chachersize video workout program to create Chachersize for Men. Dukes and his wife kicked off the 2011 Runway Red Celebrity Kids Fashion Show raising funding for children infected by or affected with HIV/AIDS.

References

External links

Atlanta Falcons website
* *
Jamie Dukes on TwitterThe Billion Pound Blitz Initiative website

CBS Local ShowFrenemals
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dukes, Jamie 1964 births Living people All-American college football players American football offensive guards Arizona Cardinals players Atlanta Falcons players Barstool Sports people Florida State Seminoles football players Green Bay Packers players Sportspeople from Schenectady, New York NFL Network people Players of American football from Orlando, Florida Maynard Evans High School alumni