Darnell Mooney (born October 29, 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 with ...

wide receiver for the

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 ...

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 ...

(NFL). 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 ...

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

High School career

Darnell Mooney went to Gadsden City High School in Gadsden, Alabama. Mooney played football and basketball for the Gadsden City Titans.

College career

At Tulane, Mooney led the Green Wave in receiving in both his junior and senior seasons. He caught 48 passes each year, totaling 993 yards in 2018 and 713 yards in 2019. Mooney scored 19 touchdowns in his college career. At the NFL draft combine, Mooney ran a 40-yard dash time of 4.38 seconds.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Mooney was selected by the

with the 173rd pick in the fifth round of the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

. He signed a four-year rookie contract with the team on July 21. In his NFL debut, a 27–23 victory over 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 ...

, Mooney caught three passes from

Mitchell Trubisky Mitchell David Trubisky (born August 20, 1994) is an American football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at North Carolina and was drafted second overall by the Chicago ...

for 38 yards. He scored his first touchdown the following week when he caught a 15-yard pass against the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. In Week 15 against 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 expansion ...

, Mooney caught four passes and a touchdown; the former elevated his season reception total to 46, enabling him to set the Bears franchise record for the most catches by a rookie, passing

Harlon Hill Harlon Junius Hill (May 4, 1932 March 21, 2013) was an American professional football player who was an end for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Hill played for the Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Detroit Lions. He w ...

's 45 in 1954. Week 17 against the rival Packers, Mooney had his best game of his rookie season, catching 11 passes for 93 yards. Mooney sustained an ankle injury near the end of the Packers game, which forced him to miss the Bears' playoff game against 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 ...

. For the 2021 season, Mooney caught 81 passes for 1,055 yards and four touchdowns. His best performance came in the last game where Mooney caught 12 passes for 126 yards. In 2022, Mooney started the first 12 games before suffering an ankle injury in Week 12. He was placed on injured reserve on November 29, 2022.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

Chicago Bears bioTulane Green Wave bioDarnell Mooney
on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mooney, Darnell 1997 births Living people Players of American football from Alabama Sportspeople from Gadsden, Alabama American football wide receivers Tulane Green Wave football players Chicago Bears players