James Jackson Darling (born December 29, 1974) is a former

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 wi ...

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, ...

. He was originally drafted by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

in the second round of the

1997 NFL Draft The 1997 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 19–20, 1997, at the Paramount T ...

. He played college football at

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

College career

Darling 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, part ...

Kettle Falls High School Kettle Falls is a city in Stevens County, Washington, United States, named for the nearby Kettle Falls on the Kettle River (Columbia River), Kettle River. The city itself is located on the Colville River (Washington), Colville River immediately u ...

in Kettle Falls, WA. He then played college football at

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

, where he was a two-time All- Pacific-10 Conference selection, and as a senior, he was also a second-team All-American selection by the Sporting News. He finished his career with 2.5 sacks, 258 tackles, four forced fumbles, and an interception.

Professional career

Darling played for ten 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 ...

, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles and played there for four years. He then was traded to the New York Jets, where he played for two years and finally finished his career with the Arizona Cardinals, where he played for four more years.

Career Stats

References

1974 births Living people Players of American football from Denver American football linebackers Washington State Cougars football players Philadelphia Eagles players New York Jets players Arizona Cardinals players {{linebacker-1970s-stub