Daniel Stubbs, II (born January 3, 1965) is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys,

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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

, Philadelphia Eagles, and Miami Dolphins. 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 ...

at the University of Miami.

Early years

Stubbs attended Red Bank Regional High School in Little Silver, New Jersey. He was a three-year starter in football. He also was a standout in basketball, finishing with a school-record 74 careers blocks, while leading his team to a state basketball title as a junior. He was recruited by Howard Schnellenberger to play

at the University of Miami, but Schnellenberger left for the USFL before his freshman season started, making Jimmy Johnson his new head coach. As a sophomore, he was moved from

outside 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, ...

to defensive end, becoming a starter midway through the season and finishing with a team-best 12 sacks. His production as a junior was even better, as Stubbs tallied 97 tackles and 17 sacks. He earned Second Team All-America honors for a Hurricanes team that finished was narrowly defeated at the

1987 Fiesta Bowl The 1987 Fiesta Bowl was a college football bowl game that served as the final game of the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. Part of the 1986–87 bowl game season, the 1987 Fiesta Bowl also served as the National Championship Game, between ...

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

14-10 for the National Championship. Noted as a defensive stalwart as a senior in 1987, opposing offenses tried to steer plays away from Stubbs direction, but he still posted 75 tackles and 9.5 sacks and helped the team win their second National Championship. The season was punctuated by a 20-14 win over

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

in the

1988 Orange Bowl The 1988 Orange Bowl was the 54th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Friday, January 1. Part of the 1987–88 bowl game season, it matched undefeated teams: the independent and second-r ...

. He was named a consensus All-American and selected to play in the

Japan Bowl The Japan Bowl (in Japanese, ジャパンボウル) was a post-season college football all-star game played in Japan each January from 1976 to 1993, which showcased East and West all-star teams made up of college football players from the United S ...

in Tokyo.

Hurricane Legacy

Stubbs finished his college career as the school's all-time career (39 1/2) and single season (17 in 1986) sack leader. He also had 25 tackles for loss, 267 total tackles and the school record for his position with 139 assisted tackles. In 1999, Stubbs was inducted into the

University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

Stubbs was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round (33rd overall) of the

1988 NFL Draft The 1988 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 24–25, 1988, at the Marriot Marq ...

. As a rookie, he was a situational pass rusher behind Kevin Fagan and Larry Roberts. He registered 25 tackles, 6 sacks, one pass defensed and was named to the NFL All-Rookie team. In

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, he posted 13 tackles and 4.5 sacks. In the

Super Bowl XXIV Super Bowl XXIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...

victory over the Denver Broncos, he had 2 sacks and returned a fumble recovery to the one-yard line to set up a 49ers touchdown. On April 19,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, he was traded along with Terrence Flagler, a third (#81-

Craig Veasey Craig Veasey (born December 25, 1966 in Houston, Texas) is a retired defensive tackle/nose tackle in the NFL. While attending the University of Houston from 1985 to 1989, Craig earned was a 4-year letterman, and a starting 3 of those years. I ...

) and an eleventh-round (#304-Myron Jones) draft pick to the Dallas Cowboys, in exchange for a second (#47- Dennis Brown) and third-round (#68-Ron Lewis) draft choices.

Dallas Cowboys

, he reunited with head coach Jimmy Johnson. He was named the starter at left defensive end and finished tied with

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

Jimmie Jones Jimmie Sims Jones (born January 9, 1966) is a former professional American football defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams, and Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football a ...

for the team lead with 7 1/2 sacks, while also tallying 59 tackles, 30 quarterback pressures (led the team), 6 passes defensed and 2 forced fumbles. The next year, he had a contract holdout and was passed over on the depth chart by

Tony Tolbert Anthony Lewis Tolbert (born December 29, 1967) is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the University of Texas-El Paso. He was drafted in the fourth round ...

. He was waived nine games into the season on November 4,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

Cincinnati Bengals

On November 6,

, he was claimed off waivers by the

and had a career-high 9 sacks (second on the team). The next year, he led the team with 5 sacks, while playing mostly in passing situations. On August 16,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, he was released in a salary-cap move.

Philadelphia Eagles

On April 7,

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 ...

, he was signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Eagles, reuniting him with Ray Rhodes, a former defensive assistant with the 49ers. He started 6 games and had 5 1/2 sacks (tied for fourth on the team).

Miami Dolphins

On April 4,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, he rejected an offer from the Eagles and signed instead a one-year contract with the Miami Dolphins, reuniting with Jimmy Johnson. He started 15 games at right defensive end and finished with 9 sacks (second on the team). The next year, he was re-signed, but after not missing any games during his career, he was lost for the season with a right knee injury he suffered in the season opener. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, his play suffered because of injuries, managing 2 tackles and no sacks. He was released in February

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

NFL statistics

Personal life

The Stubbs Sandwich is a food item named in his honor, that is sold in a restaurant chain in

Coppell, Texas Coppell ( ) is a city in the northwest corner of Dallas County in the U.S. state of Texas. It is a suburb of Dallas and a bedroom community in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its population was 42,983 at the 2020 census. A small area in the ...

and heavily endorsed by John Madden. On February 3, 2012, because of injuries sustained while playing, Stubbs entered into a law suit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against the National Football League (NFL).

References

External links

The 50 Greatest Miami Hurricanes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stubbs, Danny 1965 births Living people Sportspeople from Long Branch, New Jersey All-American college football players American football defensive ends Miami Hurricanes football players San Francisco 49ers players Dallas Cowboys players Cincinnati Bengals players Philadelphia Eagles players Miami Dolphins players Red Bank Regional High School alumni Players of American football from Monmouth County, New Jersey