Danny Mason, Jr. (born October 14, 1990) is a former

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

inside 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, p ...

and

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. He played in the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams amon ...

for the Texas Revolution and the

Colorado Ice Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

. 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 Texas A&M-Commerce, where he was named an All-American. He has also been a member of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

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 ...

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

, and

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) ( French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Startin ...

Early life

Mason was born in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, and attended high school at Shawnee High School, where he was a four-year member of both the varsity basketball and football teams. He was first-team all-conference and helped lead Shawnee High to its first state playoff appearance in school history. He was selected to participate in the annual East-West High School football All Star game his senior year. Mason was recruited by former

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

Wildcat football coach

Guy Morriss Guy Walker Morriss (May 13, 1951 – September 5, 2022) was an American football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at the University of Kentucky for two seasons (2001–2002) and at Baylor University for five seasons (2003� ...

, who had just been hired at A&M-Commerce as head coach. Mason took a scholarship offer to join the Lions.

College career

Mason was a 4-year starter for the Lions. His freshman season, the Lions went 5-5 and won the

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in Tex ...

North Division with a 5–0 record. Mason made immediate impact as a true freshman. Mason was first-team all conference his Junior and Senior seasons and was named 2nd team All-American by Beyond Sports Network. His final stats as a Lion, Mason recorded 280 total tackles including 24.5 tackles for loss during his four-year Lion career. He also had 14 pass breakups and picked off three passes all of which came during the 2011 season. After Mason's eligibility was over, he stayed in Commerce and was hired by TAMUC's new head football coach Colby Carthel to be a student assistant in order to finish his degree. Mason graduated from Texas A&M-Commerce in 2013.

Professional career

Texas Revolution and Colorado Ice

Mason began the 2014 season in Allen with the Texas Revolution of the

before traveling out to

Loveland, Colorado The City of Loveland is the home rule municipality that is the second most populous municipality in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Loveland is situated north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver and is the 14th most populous city ...

where he played the next two months for the

. He led the Ice all the way to the divisional round of the playoffs before the season ended.

Denver Broncos

On January 1, 2015, Mason signed a

futures contract In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called a futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The asset ...

with the

for the 2015 NFL season. Mason was released by the

on September 1, 2015. On September 6, 2015, the

resigned Mason to their practice squad. On September 29, 2015, Mason was released by the

Chicago Bears

On November 24, 2015, Mason was signed to the

' practice squad. On January 5, 2016, Mason signed a

with the

. Mason was cut by the Bears on May 25, 2016. On August 4, 2016, Mason was re-signed by the Bears. He was waived/injured by the Bears and placed on injured reserve on September 3, 2016.

Denver Broncos (second stint)

On July 29, 2017, Mason signed with the Broncos. He was waived on September 2, 2017.

Ottawa Redblacks

Mason signed a one-year contract extension with the

on January 11, 2021. He retired from football on June 15, 2021.

References

External links

Texas A&M-Commerce Lions bioDenver Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Danny 1990 births Living people American football linebackers Players of American football from Louisville, Kentucky Players of Canadian football from Louisville, Kentucky Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football players Texas Revolution players Colorado Crush (IFL) players Denver Broncos players Chicago Bears players Calgary Stampeders players Ottawa Redblacks players