Thomas James Duarte (born March 30, 1995) is an American former professional football player who was a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense (sports), offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He played college football for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

, and earned second-team all-conference honors in the Pac-12 as a junior in 2015. After forgoing his final year of college eligibility to enter the 2016 NFL Draft, he was selected by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pl ...

in the seventh round. He spent most of his two seasons with the Dolphins on their practice squad. He played for the Arizona Hotshots of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan are ...

(AAF) in 2019, but the league suspended operations midseason in its only season.

Early life

Duarte was born in Fullerton, California to Timothy and Deborah Duarte. Growing up, Duarte was always big. At age 10, he was and . He played

tackle Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking ...

football for a year against players who were three to four years older. However, he went back to playing

flag football Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. The sport has a strong amateur following a ...

after the players his size entered high school, and he became too big to play Pop Warner football due to their weight restrictions. Duarte returned to tackle football as a high school freshman at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana. As a senior, he had 58 receptions with 1,025

receiving yards Receiving may refer to: * ''Kabbalah'', "receiving" in Hebrew * Receiving department (or receiving dock), in a distribution center * Receiving house, a theater * Receiving line, in a wedding reception * Receiving mark, postmark * Receiving par ...

and 15

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

s and averaged 18 yards a catch. He also played on defense at

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

, and had 42 tackles, 10

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in t ...

s, three

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s and a fumble recovery. He was named Player of the Year by the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' and Offensive Player of the Year by ''

The Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital Fiest/Media News subsidiarie ...

''. The son of a Mexican-American father and Japanese-American mother, Duarte was one of the rare high-profile college recruits to be of Asian descent. He was rated a four-star prospect and capable of playing

, H-back, or wide receiver in college. He decided to attend the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

(UCLA), his mother's alma mater.

College career

Duarte struggled with hamstring injuries during his first two seasons with the Bruins. In his junior year in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, he was a second-team All-Pac-12 selection at tight end. He finished the season with 53 receptions for 872 yards, and led the team with 10 touchdown catches. His 16.6 yards per reception was the highest among UCLA receivers with 10 or more catches. After the season, he opted to forgo his final year of college eligibility and enter the 2016 NFL Draft.

Professional career

Duarte was the top performer in his position on the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, broad jump, 3 cone drill and the 20-yard shuttle in 2016 NFL Combine.

Miami Dolphins

Duarte was drafted by the

in the seventh round, 231st overall, in the 2016 NFL Draft. On September 3, 2016, he was released by the Dolphins as part of final roster cuts. He was later signed to their practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on November 5. The next day, he was in for two snaps in a 27–23 win over the New York Jets in his only action for the season. On September 2, 2017, Duarte was waived by the Dolphins and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on December 20 to replace tight end Julius Thomas, who was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

. During the 2018 offseason, Duarte missed part of the team's training program with a shoulder injury. He returned for training camp but was among the Dolphins final cuts before the 2018 season after he failed to supplant veterans MarQueis Gray and

A. J. Derby Alexander John "A. J." Derby (born September 20, 1991) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at Iowa (2010–11), Coffeyville Community College (2012) and Arkansas (2013–14). College career Derby started his co ...

Los Angeles Chargers

On September 3, 2018, Duarte was signed to the Los Angeles Chargers' practice squad. He was released on September 25, 2018.

Arizona Hotshots

In 2019, Duarte joined the Arizona Hotshots of the

. He caught eight passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns before the league suspended operations mid-season.

Carolina Panthers

Duarte signed with the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

on April 8, 2019. He was waived on May 13, 2019.

Atlanta Falcons

On August 24, 2019, Duarte was signed by the Atlanta Falcons. He was waived on August 31, 2019.

References

External links

*
UCLA bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duarte, Thomas 1995 births Living people American football tight ends American sportspeople of Mexican descent American sportspeople of Japanese descent Arizona Hotshots players Atlanta Falcons players Carolina Panthers players Los Angeles Chargers players Miami Dolphins players Players of American football from California Sportspeople from Fullerton, California UCLA Bruins football players