In so many ways, Jaelon Darden is starting to feel at home with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The game has slowed down for the rookie receiver, and his comfort level in a new offense continues to grow with each practice. He’s no longer awestruck that seven-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady is his teammate, throwing him passes every day.
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And with Saturday night’s preseason finale against the Texans, he gets rewarded with a trip home to his native Houston, a chance to play in front of family and friends with his regular-season debut now less than two weeks away.
“It’s going to be the first time my mom is getting to see me play this year,” said Darden, who was born in Houston and played at Eisenhower High before starring in college at North Texas. “So that’s definitely going to be big-time for me.”
It was Tamishe Darden who convinced Jaelon to first go out for football, and while she doesn’t always know the nuances of the game, she remains his biggest supporter. But she’s also a vocal critic when necessary.
Some players might not have been prepared for the blunt nature of Bucs coach Bruce Arians, who after the very first practice of training camp called out Darden for dropping “two damn passes,” saying “if he gets wide-ass open, he’s got to catch it every time.” All that did was make Darden think of his mother.
“My mom’s like that, so I’ve been dealing with that for a long time,” Darden said after practice, wearing the same No. 1 jersey he wore in college. “If anything, it just motivates me to go harder. Seeing somebody want me to be great, it definitely pushes you to be great. That’s definitely what I need. I love hard coaching.”
He’ll still get that on the phone from Tamishe, and he’ll get a little in person Saturday. Still, though, there’s much to be excited about for the speedy fourth-round pick, who could help the Bucs on offense and as a punt and kickoff returner.
“Mom’s like that 24/7,” Darden said. “She’s like that with football and everything. If I have a bad game, I’m not going to stop hearing it till I get home, probably get into bed. That’s when it’ll stop.”
Family means that much more to Darden since he lost his father, Manya, in May 2020 after a heart attack. He’s been forced to move on without his best friend, still inspired daily in his work ethic. He followed his brother Norman’s lead into football — the two are both receivers, with Norman playing this summer in the Champions Indoor League with the Omaha Beef, catching six touchdown passes in six games.
Make Em Respect My Name TMC 🏁 pic.twitter.com/mPw0L1pVya
— Jaelon Darden (@JDFlash1x) June 11, 2020
Darden has a tattoo on his right calf with three butterflies — for his father and two grandmothers who also have died — and the letters “RIP.” In his first few weeks of Bucs training camp, he saw a butterfly out on the practice field, a reminder to him that his father was still watching over him. A reporter asked him Wednesday if he still had butterflies before kickoffs, and he took that to mean more winged sightings on the field, rather than any pregame jitters.
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At 5-foot-8 and 174 pounds, Darden is the smallest player on the Tampa Bay roster, but that didn’t stop him from leaving North Texas with school records for receiving. He broke out last fall, catching 19 touchdown passes in nine games, including 173 yards and four scores in his final college game. The Bucs liked him enough to trade up into the fourth round to grab him, with Brady himself among those advocating to draft him.
Brady has taken a liking to Darden, spending more time with him to help him make the transition to the NFL, and the 22-year-old fully appreciates how much it means to have a veteran of 22 seasons helping him out every day.
“It definitely means a lot,” he said. “There is a lot of knowledge up there, so I’m trying to learn as much as I can. And I’m young, so it’s definitely good seeing him taking a chance and taking the time to really work with me and enhance my game on the field. That speaks volumes.”
Darden has drawn consistent praise from Arians for his progress in camp and his contributions in the first two preseason games, tying for second on the team with four catches for 37 yards.
“He’s steadily gotten better and better,” Arians said this week. “He’s learning the speed of this game in the kicking game. It’s totally different than what he’s used to … The more we can get him out there, the better he’s going to be, but I have all the confidence in the world in him. He’s just growing as a player every day.”
Bucs rookie Jaelon Darden says he’s getting more comfortable with each practice, thanks to receivers coach Kevin Garver, aka “Coach G.” pic.twitter.com/aQp5rY5k8G
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) August 7, 2021
Saturday night is the Bucs’ lone road game of this preseason, but it’s close to home for many Tampa Bay players. Mike Evans is from Galveston, an hour southeast, and Darden is one of several players from the Houston area — rookie quarterback Kyle Trask is from Manvel, just to the south, and rookie linebacker Grant Stuard is from Conroe and played in college at Houston. Offensive lineman Nick Leverett, battling for the last backup job, played his final year of college in Houston at Rice.
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Darden is a safe bet to stick on the Bucs’ 53-man roster, but he’s still working to take the return job away from last year’s primary returner, Jaydon Mickens. He’ll have his hands full trying to get snaps and targets on offense, as the Bucs have three Pro Bowl receivers ahead of him in Evans, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown, but they’re grooming him as well.
“I’m learning from everybody — CG, Mike, A.B. — I’m learning every day,” Darden said. “There’s something new I am learning every day … me being able to get out there and go through trial and error and learn, ‘Oh, I’m not supposed to be here because of this coverage,’ or things of that nature. There are just small things that I’m still learning that I’m just really appreciative of.”
He might have learned the most from Brown, as they have similar body types and strengths as receivers, using their speed and elusiveness to offset their relative lack of size.
“He’s a young and excited kid. He loves football,” Brown said. “It’s a pleasure to be around him. He has the fire in his eyes and I’m excited to help him.”
After Saturday’s homecoming game, Darden will have his first real game on Sept. 9 in Tampa against the Cowboys, a team he knows well from four years in Denton, just northwest of Dallas. He will think of his father and hear from his mother, grateful to have them steering him through his rookie season.
“She tells me to keep my head on,” he said. “Everything’s different right now, so she tells me to handle it how I handle it. Don’t be overwhelmed, don’t be hard on myself. I’m really hard on myself. I’m not going to say I like being perfect, but I like doing everything right. I don’t like getting in trouble. I don’t like getting yelled at. That’s how I go about it, and I’ll take myself a long way if I stay on that.”
(Photo: Cliff Welch / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)