Joe Tarrod Bowden, III (born February 25, 1970) 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 with ...

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 ...

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 the Houston Oilers / Tennessee Oilers / Tennessee Titans and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

. 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 the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

Early years

Bowden attended

North Mesquite High School North Mesquite High School is a secondary school in Mesquite, Texas and a part of the Mesquite Independent School District (MISD). As of 2022, the school serves northern portions of Mesquite and the MISD portion of Garland. Formerly, North Mesquit ...

Mesquite, Texas Mesquite is a suburban city located east of the city of Dallas, Texas, in the United States. Most of the city is located in Dallas County, though a small portion extends into Kaufman County. As of 2019 census estimates, the population was 140 ...

, where he received All-American and All-state recognition. He accepted a football scholarship from the

. He didn't play in his first year because of failing to meet the requirements of Proposition 48. As a junior in 1990, he led the team in tackles with 116 (3 for loss), while making one interception, 4 passes defensed, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He gained All-American honors as a senior, while registering 127 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 interceptions (both returned for

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s). He finished his college career with 286 tackles (168 solo), 2 sacks, 3 interceptions, 6 passes defensed, 3 fumble recoveries and 2 forced fumbles.

Professional career

Houston Oilers / Tennessee Oilers / Tennessee Titans

Bowden was selected by the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

in the fifth round (133rd overall) of the

1992 NFL draft The 1992 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 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott Mar ...

. As a rookie, he played 14 games on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

, making 9 tackles (seventh on the team). In

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, he started 6 games after replacing an injured

Wilber Marshall Wilber Buddyhia Marshall (born April 18, 1962) is an American former professional football player who was a outside linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for five teams from 1984 until 1995. Marshall played college football for the F ...

at right linebacker. He registered 28 tackles, one sack, one pass defensed one fumble recovery and 7

tackles. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, he missed the first 2 games with a quadricep injury. He started one game at left linebacker in place of an injured Eddie Robinson. He collected 13 tackles, one forced fumble and 7

tackles. In

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

Michael Barrow Micheal Colvin Barrow (born April 19, 1970) is a former American college and professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons. He played college football for the University of Miami, and ...

moved to

middle 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, ...

to replace an injured

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a C ...

, opening the door for Bowden to start 14 games at right linebacker. He posted 51 tackles, 2 passes defensed, 4 forced fumbles (led the team) and 5

tackles. In

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, he started 16 games at left linebacker, making 73 tackles (fifth on the team), 3 sacks, 6 passes defensed and 2 forced fumbles. In

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, he started 16 games at left linebacker. In the season finale against the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

, he suffered a broken left fibula. He tallied 84 tackles (second on the team), 2.5 sacks, one interception, 4 passes defensed one forced fumble and one

tackle. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, with the signing of Robinson, he took over the

starting position, replacing

Barron Wortham Barron Winfred Wortham (born November 1, 1969) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Houston Oilers / Tennessee Oilers / Tennessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the Universi ...

. He recorded 145 tackles (led the team), 1.5 sacks, 6 quarterback pressures, 3 passes defended, one interception and 2 fumble recoveries. In

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, Wortham regained his starting position and Bowden moved to left linebacker, during the

Super Bowl XXXIV Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on January 30, 2000, to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1999 NFL season, 1999 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champ ...

run. He registered 15 starts, 81 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries and one interception. Following the signing of

Randall Godfrey Randall Euralentris Godfrey (born April 6, 1973) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League. Godfrey played college football at the University of Georgia, where he majored in housing and consumer economics. He also ...

free agency In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

and the drafting of

Keith Bullock Keith Joseph Bullock FTSE (1931–2015) was an engineer and academic at the University of Queensland. Early life Bullock was born in Brisbane, Queensland in 1931. He attended Moorooka State School and the Church of England Grammar School. Bul ...

, Bowden became expendable and was not re-signed. He left after starting 84 of 123 regular-season games, while missing only 5 games and registering 521 tackles.

Dallas Cowboys

On May 3,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, the

had a lot of turnover at the

position and the signing of Bowden in

was one of the moves made to improve the depth. He was the backup to

Darren Hambrick Darren Hambrick (born August 30, 1975) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Carolina Panthers and the Cleveland Browns. He played college football at the University of Florida, be ...

and played in all 16 games, making 46 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and 2

tackles. He was cut on April 20,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, after failing a physical. In his career he only missed 5 of 139 games.

Coaching career

From 2008 to 2011, Bowden held coaching positions at

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

high schools: Mount St. Mary High School and

Edmond Santa Fe High School Edmond Santa Fe High School is a public high school located in Edmond, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1993, Santa Fe is one of three traditional high schools in the Edmond Public Schools district, along with Edmond Memorial High School and ...

. In 2006, Bowden was hired as the secondary coach for the

Central Oklahoma Bronchos The Central Oklahoma Bronchos, often referred to as Central Oklahoma, Central State or UCO, are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing University of Central Oklahoma, located in Edmond, Oklahoma. The 14 men's and women's varsity teams ar ...

. He held this position until 2008. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, Bowden was hired by the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

to become an assistant linebackers coach, reuniting with

Jeff Fisher Jeffrey Michael Fisher (born February 25, 1958) is an American football coach who is the head coach and general manager for the Michigan Panthers of the United States Football League (USFL). He is a former cornerback and return specialist. He ...

who was his head coach with the Titans. On March 1,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, he was moved to assistant special teams coach, before leaving the team on March 17, for a job at a higher position. On March 17,

, Bowden was hired by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. He was appointed to the position of inside linebackers coach after

Hardy Nickerson Hardy Otto Nickerson Sr. (born September 1, 1965) is an American former football coach and professional player. He played as linebacker for four teams over 16 seasons, from 1987 to 2002, in the National Football League (NFL). Nickerson spent ...

(who was hired in January ) abruptly quit and took a job as the

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

for his former coaching companion

Lovie Smith Lovie Lee Smith (born May 8, 1958) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 to 2016, he served as the head coach of the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a ...

who was also just hired by the Illini. In 2017, he was hired as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the Missouri Baptist University.

Personal life

In 1998, he married Malika (Welch) and they have two daughters, Sydney and Cheyenne. He has one son, Jaylon who also plays football and is following in the footsteps of his father.

References

External links

Tennessee State profile
1970 births Living people American football linebackers Central Oklahoma Bronchos football coaches Dallas Cowboys players Houston Oilers players Missouri Baptist Spartans football coaches Oklahoma Sooners football players San Francisco 49ers coaches St. Louis Rams coaches Tennessee Oilers players Tennessee State Tigers football coaches Tennessee Titans players High school football coaches in Oklahoma Sportspeople from Dallas People from Mesquite, Texas Coaches of American football from Texas Players of American football from Dallas African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{Oklahoma-sport-stub