Darren Russell Carrington (born October 10, 1966) is a former

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

who played 8 seasons 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 ...

for five different teams. 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 ...

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1899 as the final public university established in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona was admitted as the 48th state. ...

, where he averaged over 27 yards per kickoff return, with a career best of 99 yards. As a senior in 1988, he had 39 tackles, 2 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles, which was enough to get him selected in the 5th round of the 1989 NFL draft. Carrington started in

Super Bowl XXIX Super Bowl XXIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion San Diego Chargers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

for 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 was 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 ...

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

in Super Bowl XXIV, which he finished with a franchise-record 6 kickoff returns (now shared with

Glyn Milburn Glyn Curt Milburn (born February 19, 1971) is a former American football running back and return specialist who played for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football for Stanford, he was drafted by the Den ...

and

Reuben Droughns Reuben Droughns (; born August 21, 1978) is a retired American football running back. After playing college football at the University of Oregon, he was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft. During his nine years ...

) for 146 yards, including a 39-yard return that set up the Broncos only touchdown of the game. His best season was in 1993, when he intercepted 7 passes and returned them for 104 yards. He was selected by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

in the 1995 NFL Expansion Draft. In his eight NFL seasons, Carrington intercepted 22 passes and returned them for 377 yards and a touchdown. He also returned 6 kickoffs for 176 yards. 's NFL off-season, he held the Broncos franchise record for most kick returns in a playoff game (6 in Super Bowl XXIV; with

and

), and average yards per return in a single post-season (24.63 in 1989). Darren Carrington is a 1984 graduate of James Monroe High School. He has a son, also named Darren, who played wide receiver for the

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conferenc ...

until he was dismissed following a DUI arrest. He played his senior year for the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' ...

. Carrington lives in San Diego with his wife and three children. He works as the marriage and parenting pastor for the

Rock Church Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

. His daughter Daria is the head coach of the West Coast Breeze of

TBL Part of the troff suite of Unix document layout tools, tbl is a preprocessor that formats tables in preparation for processing with troff/nroff. Overview Mike Lesk is the original author of tbl. Like the main troff program, it uses command l ...

Daughter

DiJonai Carrington DiJonai Carrington (born January 8, 1998) is an American basketball player for the Connecticut Sun. She played college basketball for Stanford and later Baylor before being drafted by the Connecticut Sun in the 2021 WNBA draft. Early life Ca ...

plays for the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA after previously playing for the Baylor Bears and Stanford Cardinal women’s basketball teams.

References

1966 births Living people American football safeties Denver Broncos players Detroit Lions players San Diego Chargers players Jacksonville Jaguars players Oakland Raiders players Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football players James Monroe High School (New York City) alumni {{defensiveback-1960s-stub