Alex M. Molden (born August 4, 1973) is a former

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 ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who was drafted 11th in the

1996 NFL Draft The 1996 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 draft was held April 20–21, 1996, at the Paramount ...

by 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 league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. He played

between 1996 and 2004 for the

, the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

and the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

College career

Molden 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 ...

at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

and was on the team that reached the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

Rose Bowl. He was redshirted in 1991. In 1992 he had 55 tackles, four interceptions, and 19 passes broken up. He suffered a devastating knee injury in the Independence Bowl, and tore his anterior cruciate, medial collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments. He came back after a nine-month rehabilitation to start nine games in 1993. He was selected as an All-Pacific 10 cornerback in 1994, and was an All-Pacific 10/Football Coaches Association All-American and Associated Press second-team All-American in 1995.

Professional career

Personal life

Alex Molden and his wife, Christin, have eight children. His son Elijah played college football at Washington and was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the 3rd round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

. Currently, Molden is a motivational speaker located in Portland.

References

1973 births Living people Musicians from Detroit American football cornerbacks Oregon Ducks football players San Diego Chargers players New Orleans Saints players Detroit Lions players {{defensiveback-1970s-stub