DeShon Elliott (born April 21, 1997) is an

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 wit ...

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dutie ...

for 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 ...

of 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 at

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and was drafted by the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

in the sixth round of the

2018 NFL Draft The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; it was the first dra ...

Early years

Elliott attended Rockwall-Heath High School in Heath, Texas, where he played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

. He committed to the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

to play college football.

College career

As a freshman at Texas in 2015, Elliott played in seven games and recorded 13 tackles and two

interceptions 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 ...

. As a sophomore he played in 12 games and made one start, recording 30 tackles, one interception and one sack. As a junior in 2017, Elliott was a finalist for the

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Payc ...

. In late November 2017, it was announced that Elliott would forgo his senior year at Texas in favor of the

, and that he would not play in the Longhorns'

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

Professional career

Baltimore Ravens

DeShon Elliott INT Ravens vs Chargers OCT2021 (cropped)

Elliott was drafted by the

in the sixth round, 190th overall, of the

. He was placed on injured reserve on August 31, 2018 with a fractured forearm. On October 15, 2019, Elliott was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. Originated slated to be the backup safety for the 2020 season, Elliott was thrust into the starting role following the release of Earl Thomas on August 23. In Week 2, Elliott recorded his first career sack against Houston Texans quarterback

Deshaun Watson Derrick Deshaun Watson (born September 14, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Clemson, where he led the team to a national championship in ...

as the Ravens defeated the Texans 33–16. He was placed on the reserve/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

list by the team on November 3, 2020, and activated four days later. Elliott, would remain the starter for a injury-depleted Ravens secondary for the 2021 season. On November 8, 2021, Elliott was placed on injured reserve after suffering a season-ending biceps and pectoral injury late in the fourth quarter of a Week 8 34–31 overtime win over the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

Detroit Lions

On April 14, 2022, 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 For ...

signed Elliott to a one-year contract. He entered the season as the Lions starting free safety. He played in 14 games with 13 starts, recording 96 tackles, three passes defensed, one interception and a forced fumble.

Miami Dolphins

On March 17, 2023, Elliott signed a one-year contract with the

References

External links

Texas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, DeShon 1997 births Living people Players of American football from Dallas People from Heath, Texas American football safeties Texas Longhorns football players All-American college football players Baltimore Ravens players Detroit Lions players Miami Dolphins players