Tyrone Scott Braxton (born December 17, 1964) 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 ...

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

who played for 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 headquar ...

for most of his career from 1987 to 1999. Braxton played in four

Super Bowls The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

with the Broncos, and won 2 NFL championship rings in

Super Bowl XXXII Super Bowl XXXII was an American football game played between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers (who were defending their Super Bowl XXXI championship) and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver ...

and

Super Bowl XXXIII Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos (who were also defending their Super Bowl XXXII championship) and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Atlan ...

. Braxton also played one season with 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 p ...

in 1994 and was a one time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

er in 1996, a season in which he led 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 majo ...

interception 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 ...

s with nine.

Early life and college

Braxton attended James Madison Memorial High School in Madison, Wisconsin. 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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

where he earned all-conference honors as a senior and was drafted by the Broncos in the 12th round of the

1987 NFL Draft The 1987 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 28–29, 1987, at the Marriot Ma ...

, the second to last pick overall. He has a

Master of Social Work The Master of Social Work (MSW) is a master's degree in the field of social work. It is a professional degree with specializations compared to Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). MSW promotes macro-, mezzo- and micro-aspects of professional social work ...

from

Metropolitan State University of Denver Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver or Metro State) is a public university in Denver, Colorado. MSU Denver is located on the Auraria Campus, along with the University of Colorado Denver and the Community College of Denver, in ...

NFL career

In 1990, Braxton had reconstructive knee surgery. He was released after the 1993 season, after being blamed a "scapegoat" behind for a Broncos defense that struggled. The team would finish last in total defense in 1994, the year he was away from the team. After a season as a backup safety with the

, Braxton was re-signed by the Broncos prior to the 1995 season. In 1996, he was tied for the lead in interceptions with St. Louis Rams safety

Keith Lyle Keith Allen Lyle (born April 17, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers. Lyle was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in ...

with nine. In Super Bowl XXXII, he recorded a key interception from

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 2010 ...

that set up a Broncos touchdown. Braxton finished his 13 NFL seasons with 36 interceptions, which he returned for 617 yards and four touchdowns. He also recorded three sacks and 10 fumble recoveries, which he returned for 106 yards.

Personal life

His brother was convicted in a drug charge and served one year in a Wisconsin state prison back in the 1980s. A second brother served a 25-year prison sentence for armed robbery, while more of his friends were either arrested or died because of drug related issues, which inspired a career for Braxton in the youth ministry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braxton, Tyrone 1964 births Living people Sportspeople from Madison, Wisconsin Players of American football from Wisconsin American football cornerbacks American football safeties Denver Broncos players Miami Dolphins players American Conference Pro Bowl players North Dakota State Bison football players