Daronte Jones | |
Current Team: | Minnesota Vikings |
Position: | Defensive backs coach |
Birth Date: | 11 November 1978 |
Birth Place: | Annapolis, Maryland, U.S. |
High School: | Bishop McNamara (MD) |
College: | Morgan State |
Pastcoaching: |
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Daronte Jones (born November 11, 1978) is an American football coach who is the defensive backs coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL).
Jones played as a cornerback for one season at Temple in 1996, but then transferred to Morgan State University.[1] His playing career ended after his second season with the Morgan State after repeated injuries led to nerve damage.
After being a graduate assistant at Lenoir–Rhyne and coaching safeties at Nicholls State,[2] he was a defensive coordinator for two years at two separate Louisiana high schools.[3] From 2005-2009, Jones was assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Bowie State University in his home state of Maryland. He spent the 2010 season coaching at UCLA. After a one year stint coaching the Montreal Allouettes of the CFL, he spent 3 years coaching at Hawaii. He then would spend a year in the Big 10 coaching at Wisconsin.[4]
Jones then began coaching in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins, where he worked as assistant defensive backs coach for two seasons. The next two years he spent coaching the secondary for the Cincinnati Bengals. In 2020 he was the defensive backs coach for the Minnesota Vikings.
Jones was named the defensive coordinator at LSU on January 26, 2021.[5] He was not retained for the following season.[6]
On February 23, 2022, Jones returned to the Minnesota Vikings as the team's defensive backs coach for the 2022 season.[7]