Concussion Concerns For Jaelon Darden
January 26th, 2022
Bucs rookie returner Jaelon Darden
It was a rough season for the Bucs’ rookie fourth-round pick out of North Texas for many reasons.
First, in his role as a full-time return man, Darden ranked 28th in the NFL in punt returns at 7.5 yards per return (among NFL players with 10 or more returns), and he was 32nd among full-time kick returners at 19.9 yards per attempt (again among those with 10 or more).
Call that “growing pains” if you wish from a small-school guy. But Joe is not quite sure why the all-in coaching staff stuck with Darden so long at those positions. At least he was sure-handed. (Joe’s playing nice.)
Darden didn’t get many shots in the offense, as expected, so it was extra disturbing when he left Sunday’s game against the Rams with a concussion after taking a hit during a return. The shot on him was solid but it definitely wasn’t a bone-brushing blow.
Bucco Bruce Arians told the Buccaneers Radio Network that Darden will welcome the recovery time.
“That’s his second [concussion this season,] Arians said. “So he’ll be real [inaudible, sounded like “careful.”] It’s a good thing he has a lot of time to rest and recover from it.”
Joe always raises an eyebrow when a guy gets multiple concussions in limited action. That can be a red flag. Not everyone’s brain is built the same way. (See Mitch Unrein.)
Still, Arians lauded Darden as he did all season long, “a bright, bright future as a receiver and a returner.”
January 26th, 2022 at 12:09 am
Hope he’s ok and recovers quickly. My first year reaction on Darden is he’s just too small. Very few can overcome that and he hasn’t shown he’s the exception to the rule yet. Arians has and will use the media to bump a guys confidence. I like the idea of Darden more than I like Darden. And I’m very forgiving of rookies. I’ve got big hopes for JTS next year. But a guy like Darden is going to have to perfect his craft to have any shot in this league because he’s just so undersized.
January 26th, 2022 at 12:12 am
Needs to retire. Nothing special about this player so far.
January 26th, 2022 at 12:16 am
Hate to see the kid get hurt but let’s be real he’s hot garbage. How many more times do you have to see him catch a punt with his blockers giving him 15 yards of space and he runs headfirst to the first defender he can find and can’t shake anybody?
Just the way he runs pisses me off. Leaning down like a hunting dog looking for the closest guy to tackle him.
Should’ve never let Mickens walk.
January 26th, 2022 at 12:22 am
Brady is in concussion mode for the antonio brown mess they brought to the bucs.
Thats adding to his retirement decision. Lol
January 26th, 2022 at 12:29 am
Darden must be incredible in practice for Arians to consistently sing his praises. RoJo looks the wrong way and he has Arians ripping him a new one.
January 26th, 2022 at 12:40 am
So far Darden has proved that he just is not ready for primetime. I can say many things but really he just is not ready for the NFL. Maybe one day , but not this year at all.
GO BUCS!!!!
January 26th, 2022 at 1:09 am
Bucsfan396
Darden looks great in practice because he’s going against our Special (not so special) teams. Our coverage and return teams are terrible so of course he looks great against them.
January 26th, 2022 at 2:58 am
Hes a high schooler.
He gets crushed on every hit.
Kenyon Barner is WAY better.
I hate when players play only because they were drafted.
Hes a practice squad player.
January 26th, 2022 at 3:49 am
Geez, hope he gets better and gets a real job outside of the nfl. He is not the answer at KR , PR or WR. Sorry but he will never be anymore than a practice squad player.
January 26th, 2022 at 4:46 am
Didn’t understand JL’s & BA’s fascination with this kid when we drafted him; still don’t. My only guess is that we wanted our own Devin Hester to improve our return game, but Darden isn’t even close to being in that same league. His techniques based on quickness & elusiveness may have worked well in college, but it’s been a joke in the pro’s. And as a WR, 50% catch rate for a slot-type receiver doesn’t hack it (and no, he’s not a deep threat with a 7.2 YPR average). Hope he heals up quickly from his concussion, but that was a waste of a draft pick.
January 26th, 2022 at 5:26 am
It doesn’t seem like Stumbles Darden has what it takes. It was a mistake for the Bucs to not go with Barner after he showed that he was a competent returner.
January 26th, 2022 at 6:39 am
I was all in when we drafted Darden especially after watching his college highlights. However, as the season progressed, I realized he’s outta his league. He regularly anticipates contact which causes him to stumble outta fear. The stumbling didn’t occur in college because the level of competition was nothing close to the speed of the nfl. Many Bucs fan mentioned that hopefully he’s not another Dexter Jackson, well, lo n behold, he’s a clone of Dexter Jackson. Let’s be real, rue uu is too small, slow, n scared. He’s in the wrong business. He looked quick n fast in college but if you like slow motion, he does that at its best. Let’s take the lost n bring in a true playmaker at kr.
January 26th, 2022 at 7:09 am
Why does Arians talk like this?
January 26th, 2022 at 7:09 am
Vaughn was looked at negatively until this year. So there is a chance
But currently:
“That boy good he good….mmmmhhhhhmmmm good and terrible”
January 26th, 2022 at 7:37 am
Dexter Jackson clone.
January 26th, 2022 at 8:01 am
Matt Gay wasn’t ready either…..sure, Darden disappointed…..but we’ll see.
January 26th, 2022 at 8:14 am
OK Krusty Krewe, ready? on the count of 3, everybody stand up and yell BUST!!!
January 26th, 2022 at 8:16 am
Can’t believe y’all out here trying to bury a rookie for being… a rookie. Rookie players aren’t good. It’s just how it is. That’s why dudes get several years. You don’t have a Man’s body yet and don’t have the football acumen yet. These are things that doing football as a full-time job will help you develop. Give the kid time to physically and mentally grow into the job.
January 26th, 2022 at 8:31 am
Swing, and a miss by Licht. They all can’t be home runs. I’m all for giving a rookie a chance, but he has to show some improvement, and earn his spot. Darden did neither. Mickens was a better player period. Darden was handed the job because Licht moved up into round 4 to get him. That ain’t right, and must frustrate better players with less draft status.
January 26th, 2022 at 9:09 am
has anyone seen Darden and Dexter Jaxson in the same place at same time? Could be same guy.
January 26th, 2022 at 9:11 am
BUST! NICE ONE!
January 26th, 2022 at 9:12 am
I had hopes for him based on his college highlights. But it’s puzzling how much he stumbles. He’s just not good.
January 26th, 2022 at 9:19 am
Hope u get better asap but you’re cut if I’m GM.
He had ONE good play the entire year. He sucks. Time to move on from him.
January 26th, 2022 at 10:23 am
Hey , great story but nfl is a vertical running league and Darden is a horizontal run guy that had elite/ very good speed for his college conference. Only very very elite speed guys ( Dion, Hill, D Green ) can run horizontally in the NFL and those guys were more vertical than Darden …… He’s the guy that looks great on the practice field but is truly a lower level college kid with great moves and is a bit slower that Peter Warrick and not as developed !! Hard to change a 15 year running style ( can be done w great coaching) but it never happened for Warrick and Darden has more cards against him ……. Kinda let’s you see this staff isn’t what it’s anointed to be in some areas !! Early no help for wells, no catches for Howard, constantly Blitzing Stafford ( that’s a no no ) , Barner better returner, Punter was not good all year , not putting Barrett on back up tackle …… oh well !!!
January 26th, 2022 at 10:57 am
Darden was so bad teams would kick it short on purpose so he could return it 10 yards to the 15 yard line. That is net of 10 yards. He is historically bad, you can probably get UPS driver to return it better than that. A waist of draft pick.
January 26th, 2022 at 11:07 am
He has shown nothing in the kick return game. Let him go heal somewhere else. We can’t take up a roster spot with someone showing little, if no, promise. I can’t for the life of me figure out why they didn’t put Scotty out there for punt returns in the Divisional game with the Rams.
January 26th, 2022 at 11:08 am
And it’s little wonder he got a concussion. He’s so small and the coverage team is moving so quickly, he’s vulnerable to injuries.
January 26th, 2022 at 11:40 am
To be as small as he is, you would think Dardens reported speed would show up on some break away returns or something. So far, I have seen nothing from him indicating he is a keeper. We need to find a break away return specialist. Darden ain’t him. Retire dude. This is your 2nd concussion already. Bad sign.
January 26th, 2022 at 12:41 pm
There’s a reason BA has had mostly good, upbeat, positive things to say about this kid for most of the season. We just have no idea what that reason is… LOL
This consistent message from the head coach that Darden ‘belongs’ and has a high skillset – despite complete lack of evidence on gamedays is confusing to fans.
We know what we see and it hasn’t been much from rookie 4th rd pick Darden. Stats over multiple games back up that negative perception.
And yet coach is 100% behind him. Obviously believes that Darden’s play will one day soon be NFL highlight worthy.
We’ve had a similar situation going on with Vaughn the last 2 years as well. And Vaughn DID show out a bit when he was getting touches for a couple games.
So maybe – just maybe this 40+year coaching veteran – who started out learning from Bear Bryant and has had BOOKS written about his coaching abilities – Maybe BA knows what he’s looking at when he sees raw talent that just needs nurturing and tutoring over some time in order to be NFL ‘ready’.
Thats the hope on Darden that we’re all clinging too – yes??
I’m with Joe though – Bucs were “all in” for 2021 so it seemed odd that this rookie was granted a season of ‘on the job training’ considering his results on gameday as a returner were sub standard……
January 26th, 2022 at 2:04 pm
It really wasn’t a rough season at all. He’s a 4th round pick (actually a 5th rounder) who was asked to return kicks, when that wasn’t what he did in college. Yeah, for part of one year he returned a few kicks, but he was a starting WR, not a kick returner in college. Not sure why the Bucs took him thinking he was a returner, when he had done that on a limited scale and wasn’t anything special when he did do it.
The big thing for Darden, in his situation, was just to not turn the ball over. Get what you can, don’t make mistakes. That’s what he did. Also kick returning is down across the league, people are too stupid or lazy to bother to look at the stats, but around game 12 or so the season, Darden was, I believe, #16 in kickoff returns, and I think #22 in punt returns (doing it by memory, I might be off on that). He ended the season lower in the rankings, but it doesn’t matter, because even when he was perfectly average at returns, the numskulls in here were demanding the team cut him, saying he sucked.
If the Bucs stick with him doing this next year, I’d expect to see a jump in production. But ideally they’ll let him focus full time on trying to be a WR and finally just get a proven NFL returner — assuming Brady is back and we’re in win now mode. If Brady isn’t back, then I don’t care, let him do whatever as we play for the #1 pick and get our cap hell started and over with.
January 26th, 2022 at 3:38 pm
Sorry to hear this,
He isn’t very good
January 26th, 2022 at 3:43 pm
move on from this guy put in scotty miller get somebody with a fresh head
January 26th, 2022 at 6:10 pm
Darden may have been considered fast in college but he’s not fast for the pro’s. Concussions are cumulative, they only get worse. It may be the right time to move on from this young man before it’s too late.
January 26th, 2022 at 10:09 pm
Darden sucks.
January 27th, 2022 at 9:48 am
Hope the kid’s OK.
Frankly, he had no business back there to begin with. He NEVER had anything that would remotely appear to be an “it factor” in the return game.
Perhaps an off-season and training will help but…the experiment needs to stop.