Darren McFadden was born on August 27,1987 and is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League.
85 Facts About Darren McFadden
2.
Darren McFadden played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round with the fourth overall pick of the 2008 NFL Draft.
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At Arkansas, McFadden had a decorated career, twice finishing as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy and as a consensus member of the All-American team.
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Darren McFadden was highly touted coming out of school, and was picked fourth overall by the Raiders.
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Darren McFadden struggled with consistency through his career, only rushing for over 1,000 yards twice and never started all 16 games of a season.
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Darren McFadden retired mid-way through the 2017 NFL season, and was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2019.
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Darren McFadden was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on August 27,1987 to Gralon Darren McFadden and Mini Muhammad.
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Darren McFadden attended Oak Grove High School in North Little Rock, where he was a three-sport star in football, baseball, and track.
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Darren McFadden played a variety of positions for his football team, but was primarily used as a running back on offense, and a safety on defense.
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Darren McFadden was ranked the number 23 player in the nation by Rivals.
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Darren McFadden was a highly recruited prospect, and while he garnered interest from many schools around the Deep South including Tennessee, Alabama, and Auburn, he chose to end the recruiting process early and attend the University of Arkansas.
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Darren McFadden received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Arkansas, where he was a standout running back for coach Houston Nutt's Arkansas Razorbacks football team from 2005 to 2007.
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In 2005, his true freshman season, Darren McFadden rushed for 1,113 yards and 11 touchdowns on 176 attempts.
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Darren McFadden tallied over one hundred rushing yards in five games, with his best performance coming on a 31-carry, 190-yard game against Georgia.
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Darren McFadden followed the Georgia game with a 187-yard effort against the South Carolina Gamecocks.
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Darren McFadden completed his first pass in a Razorback uniform in the game against LSU, when he completed a pass to Marcus Monk for thirteen yards on a critical fourth quarter drive.
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Darren McFadden ended the season with the most yards a freshman running back had ever gained in an Arkansas uniform, and became only the seventh Southeastern Conference player to rush over 1,000 yards as a freshman.
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Darren McFadden was recognized at the end of the season as Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year honors by both the SEC Media as well as SEC coaches.
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Darren McFadden garnered Freshman All-American nods, and was named as Newcomer of the Year for the Southeastern Conference by ESPN.
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Darren McFadden continued through spring practice early the next year as the number one running back on the Razorback depth chart, a spot he never relinquished while on campus.
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In 2006, despite a slow start to the season due to a dislocated toe from an off the field incident at a night club in Little Rock, Darren McFadden rushed for a school-record 1,647 yards, the fifth best all-time in the SEC for single season yards, scored 14 touchdowns, and threw for three more touchdowns on just nine passing attempts, becoming a first-team All-American.
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On December 6,2006, Darren McFadden was named one of three finalists for the Heisman Trophy, along with Troy Smith from Ohio State and Brady Quinn from Notre Dame.
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On December 7,2006, Darren McFadden became the first sophomore to win the Doak Walker Award, given annually to the nation's top running back.
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Darren McFadden was the winner of Jim Brown Trophy in 2006.
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Darren McFadden was a consensus All-America choice, making the vast majority of teams selected.
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Darren McFadden surpassed Madre Hill as the record holder for most rushing yards in a season at the University of Arkansas in 2006.
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Darren McFadden was the centerpiece of the "Wildhog formation," an offensive formation wherein McFadden usually lined up at quarterback position.
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Darren McFadden often played quarterback in high school, and in the Wildcat formation, he was a threat to throw the ball, to run the ball, or to hand off to another player.
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Darren McFadden was predicted to be a front-runner for many awards, including the Doak Walker, the Maxwell, and the Walter Camp Player of the Year.
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Darren McFadden began the 2007 season with five consecutive games in which he gained at least 120 yards.
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On November 3,2007, Darren McFadden tied the Southeastern Conference single-game rushing record held by former Vanderbilt Commodores running back Frank Mordica's 1978 game total versus the Air Force Falcons with 321 yards rushing against the South Carolina Gamecocks.
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Darren McFadden rushed 32 times for 206 yards and three TDs, and completed three of six pass attempts for 34 yards and a touchdown.
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Darren McFadden ended his junior season with 1,829 yards rushing on 325 carries and 16 rushing touchdowns.
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Darren McFadden threw four touchdown passes, and garnered another touchdown receiving.
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On December 6,2007, Darren McFadden was announced as the winner of the Walter Camp Award and as the winner of the Doak Walker Award.
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Darren McFadden became only the second person in history to win the Doak Walker Award twice.
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Darren McFadden finished as the runner-up for the 2007 Heisman Trophy for the second year in a row.
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Darren McFadden was runner-up to Tim Tebow of the Florida Gators by a margin of 1,957 points to 1,703 points, making him the first person since 1949 to finish second in Heisman voting in consecutive years.
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Again, Darren McFadden was the winner of the Jim Brown Trophy, given to the nation's top running back.
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Darren McFadden ended his college career as the most decorated player in school history, and holds virtually all of the university's rushing records, and is in a number of the SEC's all-time top 10 rushing spots.
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Darren McFadden finished his career in seventh place for the Southeastern Conference career rushing touchdowns record with 41.
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Darren McFadden is generally considered to be the best and finest football player in Arkansas Razorbacks football history, and is certainly the most decorated.
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On March 6,2008, Electronic Arts announced that Darren McFadden would be cover athlete for the Xbox 360's version of NCAA Football 09.
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At the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on February 24,2008, Darren McFadden ran an unofficial time of 4.27 seconds and an official time of 4.33 seconds on the 40-yard dash, which was second among all running backs at the combine to only Chris Johnson, who ran a then-record 4.24.
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Darren McFadden was criticized for possible character concerns stemming from two nightclub altercations and the hiring of a lawyer to handle his paternity problems.
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Darren McFadden was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the first round with the fourth overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.
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At training camp, Darren McFadden impressed Raiders coach Lane Kiffin with his ability to take instructions once and seamlessly incorporate them into his game.
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Darren McFadden scored his first professional touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs on September 14,2008, his second NFL game, in which he gained 164 yards on 21 carries.
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Darren McFadden ended the season with 499 yards on 113 attempts, with four touchdowns.
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Darren McFadden started the 2010 season as a better player than he was in his first two seasons.
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In Week 2, Darren McFadden rushed for 145 yards on 30 carries against the St Louis Rams.
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Darren McFadden rushed for 105 yards with a rushing touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 3.
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Darren McFadden recorded 2 receptions for 31 yards and a touchdown.
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Darren McFadden became only the 4th Raider to have 4 touchdowns in a game.
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Darren McFadden would get on track against the San Diego Chargers in Week 13.
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Darren McFadden finished the 2010 season as one of the 5 most-productive NFL running backs despite playing in only 13 games.
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Darren McFadden had career highs in rushing, receiving, TDs, and total yards from scrimmage.
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Darren McFadden had 6 games with at least 100 yards rushing, and a total of 9 games with at least 89 yards rushing.
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Darren McFadden's rushing yards per game, total scrimmage yards and yards per carry were all ranked in the top 5 among NFL running backs.
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Darren McFadden caught 7 passes for 71 yards and scored a receiving touchdown.
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Darren McFadden became the third running back to rush for 100 or more yards against the Jets in the Rex Ryan era.
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Darren McFadden's performance earned him FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Week.
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In Week 7 against the Kansas City Chiefs Darren McFadden had to leave the game after 2 runs due to an aggravation of his chronic foot condition and was shut down for the remainder of the season.
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Darren McFadden returned for the 2012 season, but struggled throughout the year and finished with 707 yards on 216 carries.
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Darren McFadden did lead the Raiders in rushing, and he recorded three 100-plus-yard rushing performances.
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Darren McFadden appeared in 10 games in the 2013 season, having 114 carries for 379 yards, along with 5 touchdowns.
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The 2014 season marked as the first time in which Darren McFadden played a full season.
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Darren McFadden appeared in all 16 games with 12 starts.
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Darren McFadden finished the year with 155 carries for 534 yards and 2 touchdowns.
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Darren McFadden saw a decline in his number of carries due to the emergence of second-year running back Latavius Murray.
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On March 13,2015, Darren McFadden signed a two-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys worth up to $5.85 million including a $200,000 bonus, to be one of the candidates to help replace the recently departed DeMarco Murray.
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Darren McFadden would remain as the starter and finished with 1,089 rushing yards, after only gaining 129 yards in his first 5 games.
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Darren McFadden's 3 rushing touchdowns was second on the team, his 40 receptions was 4th and his 328 receiving yards was 2nd-most in his career for a single season.
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Darren McFadden became the first former Razorback running back to register two 1,000-yard rushing seasons in an NFL career.
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Darren McFadden's 100-yard rushing games were against the Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers, and Jets.
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Darren McFadden had two more games with 100-plus scrimmage yards.
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Darren McFadden entered the Organized Team Activities competing for the starting role with rookie Ezekiel Elliott and free agent acquisition Alfred Morris.
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Darren McFadden passed Morris on the depth chart as the backup running back, as soon as he incorporated into his role against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because he was seen as more of a complete player with his blocking and receiving skills.
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Darren McFadden finished the season after appearing in three games, with 87 rushing yards and 17 receiving yards.
80.
On November 28,2017, only two days after his release, Darren McFadden announced his retirement from football after 10 seasons in the NFL.
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In June 2016, Darren McFadden filed a $15 million lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas against his longtime business manager, Michael Vick.
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Darren McFadden alleged that Vick defrauded him and misappropriated funds, including $3 million lost in a bitcoin-related business venture.
83.
On January 21,2019, Darren McFadden was arrested for drunk driving and resisting arrest in a Dallas Fort-Worth Whataburger parking lot.
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Darren McFadden was released on bond a short time later.
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Darren McFadden pleaded guilty to DWI on February 14,2020, and was sentenced to four days in jail.