Darron Lee always wanted to make football a career and play in the NFL. He just didn’t think it would be as a linebacker.
He played quarterback and safety at New Albany High School in Ohio well enough to get a scholarship to attend Ohio State. Before the 2014 season, he was switched to linebacker and was the Defensive MVP of the 2015 Sugar Bowl before becoming the Jets’ first-round draft choice last spring.
“You couldn’t have told me that even if you paid me,” Lee said of playing defense in the NFL.
Lee was a fast learner at Ohio State, and he has continued that trait in the pros to the point where the rookie played all 73 defensive snaps in the Jets’ 22-17 loss to the Patriots on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. He even called the defensive signals in some of the sub packages when veteran David Harris wasn’t on the field. Lee tied Harris with a team-high 11 tackles and also was credited with breaking up a pass.
“It’s a huge responsibility,” Lee said of calling signals. “You have to make sure the guys are lined up and on the same page. The main thing you want as a defense is to make sure that everybody is on the same page. I thought I did a decent job of it. There’s always room for improvement, but I felt like I did a decent job.”
There were plenty of eyebrows raised when the Jets selected Lee with the 20th overall pick. Though he came from a perennial college power, he seemed undersized at 6-foot-1, 232 pounds, and there was his relative inexperience at linebacker. But after missing three games with an ankle injury, he appears worth the investment. The speed, agility and versatility that made him an attractive draft prospect are starting to show on the field, and Lee gives much of the credit to Harris.
“I never thought going through [a rookie season] would be like this,” the 22-year-old Lee said. “I thought it would be a lot more daunting with super challenges. But I have great veterans around me. David Harris has been the ultimate leader for me through this whole process and transition. Sometimes I forget this is only my third year playing linebacker and get hard on myself. But Dave keeps me level, not too high, not too low, just staying the course.”
Harris likes the way Lee has handled his first season in the NFL — how he has handled the expectations of being a first-round pick, learned defensive schemes and game plans every week and, more recently, overcome injuries.
“He’s starting to understand the ins and outs of playing defense a little better and diagnosing plays,” Harris said. “We talk here and there. I try to get him to understand if you make a mistake, you have to move on to the next play. Everybody makes mistakes, but you can’t sit around and be focused on that mistake throughout a game or practice because it’s going to slow you down and make you hesitant. You’ve got to put it behind you.”
What Lee hasn’t put behind him are the doubters who have shadowed him throughout his career at Ohio State, where he was told he wasn’t good enough to play, and with the Jets, where some said he was too small to make a real impact.
“There’s a chip on my shoulder,” Lee said. “It’s actually just under my skin. It doesn’t leave, and it never will leave. When I came out of high school, just the amount of doubt I had, literally from everybody around me — friends, some family and the fans — I’ve never forgot how I felt, and it has pretty much carried me through to here. And it still is there because there still is doubt and you have to rise up. But I rise up to my expectations and not anyone else’s.”
Despite the doubters, Lee has made his dreams come true. He’s calling signals for an NFL team, but instead of scoring touchdowns, he’s preventing them.