Stephen Denmark (born April 20, 1996) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Valdosta State Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU a ...

. He was drafted by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

in the seventh round of the

2019 NFL Draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 2 ...

. Denmark has also been a member of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

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 club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

, and

San Antonio Brahmas The San Antonio Brahmas are a professional American football team based in San Antonio, Texas. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the XFL, owned by RedBird Capital, Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia's Alpha Acquico, LLC. History The XFL ...

Early life

At James S. Rickards High School, Denmark ran track and played for the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team. In 2013, Rickards reached the Class 5A state playoffs with a 9–2 record; Denmark had 49 receptions for 851 yards and 12 touchdowns, along with two kickoff return touchdowns.

College career

Denmark attended

, where he played wide receiver for three years. In 2018, Denmark converted to cornerback, where he recorded 55 tackles and three interceptions as Valdosta State won the

NCAA Division II Football Championship The NCAA Division II Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine a champion at the NCAA Division II level. It was first held in 1973, as a single-elimination tournament with eight teams. The tourna ...

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Denmark was drafted by the

in the seventh round (238th overall) of the

. Before the draft, Denmark worked out with Bears secondary coach

Deshea Townsend Trevor Deshea Townsend (born September 8, 1975) is an American football coach and former cornerback who is the passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He previously serv ...

and assistant director of player personnel Champ Kelly. He signed his four-year rookie contract on May 13. On August 31, 2019, the Bears released Denmark as part of final roster cuts and was signed to the practice squad the next day. On December 30, 2019, Denmark was signed to a reserve/future contract. After being waived on September 5, 2020, Denmark was added to the practice squad a day later. He was released on October 5.

Cleveland Browns

On November 10, 2020, Denmark was signed to the

' practice squad. Denmark was released from the Browns' practice squad on December 1, 2020.

Pittsburgh Steelers

On January 21, 2021, Denmark signed a reserve/future contract with the

. He was waived on August 17, 2021.

Green Bay Packers

On August 25, 2021, Denmark signed with the

. On August 31, 2021, Packers released Denmark as part of their final roster cuts.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

On March 23, 2022 it was announced that Denmark had signed with the

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL).

San Antonio Brahmas

On November 17, 2022, Denmark was drafted by the

of the XFL. He signed with the team on February 21, 2023. He was waived from the Reserve List on April 5, 2023.

Houston Roughnecks

On April 5, 2023, Denmark was claimed off waivers by the

Houston Roughnecks The Houston Roughnecks are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL founded by Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment and plays its home games at TDECU Stadium. History ...

. He was released on June 22, 2023.

References

External links

Valdosta State bio
1996 births Living people Players of American football from Tallahassee, Florida American football defensive backs Valdosta State Blazers football players Chicago Bears players Cleveland Browns players Pittsburgh Steelers players Green Bay Packers players Saskatchewan Roughriders players San Antonio Brahmas players Houston Roughnecks players {{defensiveback-1990s-stub