Danny Noonan (American football)

Danny Noonan

No. 73, 95

Position:

Defensive end

Personal information

Date of birth:

July 14, 1965

Place of birth:

Lincoln, Nebraska

Height:

6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)

Weight:

282 lb (128 kg)

Career information

High school:

Lincoln (NE) Northeast

College:

Nebraska

NFL draft:

1987 / Round: 1 / Pick: 12

Career history

* Offseason and/or practice squad member only

Roster status:

Retired

Career highlights and awards

Honorable Mention All-American (1985)
Second-team All-Big Eight (1985)
All-Big Eight (1986)
Consensus All-American (1986)
Big Eight Athlete-of-the-Year (1986)
MVP of the Sugar Bowl (1986)

Career NFL statistics

Games played:	73
Games started:	41
Quarterback sacks:	15
Player stats at NFL.com

Player stats at PFR

Danny Noonan (born July 14, 1965) is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League. He played professionally for the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers. He played college football at the University of Nebraska.

Early years

Noonan played both defensive and offensive tackle at Lincoln Northeast High School and helped the team win a state title in 1982. He was selected to play in the state’s 1983 All-Star Shrine Bowl football game played at Nebraska Memorial Stadium.

College career

He accepted a scholarship from the University of Nebraska and played as a defensive end as a freshman. During his junior season, defensive coordinator coach Charlie McBride moved him to nose tackle and became a starter. He had a dominant season as a senior when the team ranked second in the nation in total defense.^[1] After finishing with 53 tackles and 7 sacks, he received numerous awards and honors, including the Big 8 Athlete-of-the-Year, First-Team All-American (AP, UPI, FWAA, Kodak, Walter Camp, Football News), All Star Japan Bowl and Big 8 Player-of-the-Week (Florida State).^[2] He was also named the game's Most Valuable Player in the 1986 Sugar Bowl.

Noonan was coached at Nebraska by Tom Osborne and is a member of the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was selected by the Omaha World-Herald as one of Nebraska's Top 100 greatest athletes.^[3]

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

He was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round (12th overall) of the 1987 NFL Draft, with the intention of being the eventual successor to Randy White and to help revitalize an aging defensive line.^[4] After having the longest holdout by a rookie in franchise history, he fell behind in learning the nuances of Tom Landry's flex defense and was only a situational player in his first season.^[5] Despite suffering hip and knee injuries, his best year statistically was in 1988, as he recorded 16 starts, 84 tackles, 7.5 sacks (tied for the team lead with Garry Cobb) and returned an interception for a touchdown.

In 1989, he missed 9 games with a groin injury. He resumed his starting role (15 starts) in 1990, finishing fourth (first among defensive lineman) on the team in tackles (85) and also registered 4.5 sacks.

After starting the first 3 games in 1991, with the addition of Tony Casillas, the emergence of Russell Maryland and Jimmie Jones, he played sparingly the rest of the season and finished with 11 tackles and one sack.^[6] He was released after the first 2 games of the 1992 season, to make room for Russell Maryland upon his return from a toe injury.^[7] He started 41 out of 67 possible games and recorded 15 sacks in his Cowboys career.

Green Bay Packers

Noonan was claimed off waivers by the Green Bay Packers, played 6 games as a backup in the team's 3-4 defense and recorded 4 tackles,^[8] before being waived on November 10, 1992.^[9]

Denver Broncos

He signed as a free agent with the Denver Broncos in 1993. He retired on August 17, after missing almost half of the team's training camp with a knee injury.^[10]

Personal life

Noonan married his wife Julie in 2002 and have five children (Sydney, Sam, Maverick, Alec and Branson). He graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science Degree and has an MBA from Columbia Southern University. He is President of the National Football League Players Association retired player chapter in Nebraska.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Danny Noonan (American football).

Nebraska bio

1986 College Football All-America Team consensus selections

Offense	QB Vinny Testaverde RB D. J. Dozier RB Terrence Flagler RB Brent Fullwood RB Brad Muster RB Paul Palmer WR Cris Carter TE Keith Jackson OT John Clay OT Randy Dixon OT Danny Villa G Jeff Bregel C Ben Tamburello

Defense	DL Jerome Brown DL Jason Buck DL Danny Noonan DL Reggie Rogers DL Tony Woods LB Cornelius Bennett LB Brian Bosworth LB Shane Conlan LB Chris Spielman DB Bennie Blades DB Thomas Everett DB Tim McDonald DB Garland Rivers DB Rod Woodson

Special teams	K Jeff Jaeger P Barry Helton

1987 NFL draft first-round selections

Dallas Cowboys first-round draft picks

Lilly Jordan Appleton Morton Niland Homan C. Hill D. Thomas To. Smith B. Thomas DuPree E. Jones Young R. White Henderson Kyle Dorsett Bethea Shaw Richards R. Hill Jeffcoat Cannon Brooks Sherrard Noonan Irvin Aikman E. Smith Maryland Harper Pritchett K. Smith R. Jones Carver LaFleur Ellis Ekuban R. Williams Newman Ware Spears Carpenter Spencer F. Jones Jenkins Bryant Ty. Smith Claiborne Frederick Martin B. Jones

AFC East BUF MIA NE NYJ North BAL CIN CLE PIT South HOU IND JAX TEN West DEN KC OAK SD NFC East DAL NYG PHI WAS North CHI DET GB MIN South ATL CAR NO TB West ARI LA SF SEA

Dallas Cowboys 1987 NFL draft selections

Danny Noonan Ron Francis Jeff Zimmerman Kelvin Martin Everett Gay Joe Onosai Kevin Sweeney Kevin Gogan Alvin Blount Dale Jones Jeff Ward Scott Armstrong

Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl XXVII Champions

2 Lin Elliott 4 Mike Saxon 7 Steve Beuerlein 8 Troy Aikman (MVP) 20 Ray Horton 22 Emmitt Smith 23 Robert Williams 24 Larry Brown 26 Kevin Smith 27 Thomas Everett 27 Curvin Richards 28 Darren Woodson 29 Kenneth Gant 30 Issiac Holt 34 Tommie Agee 37 James Washington 39 Derrick Gainer 40 Bill Bates 47 Clayton Holmes 48 Daryl Johnston 50 Bobby Abrams 51 Ken Norton, Jr. 52 Mickey Pruitt 53 Mark Stepnoski 55 Robert Jones 57 Vinson Smith 58 Dixon Edwards 61 Nate Newton 63 John Gesek 66 Kevin Gogan 67 Russell Maryland 68 Frank Cornish 70 Dale Hellestrae 71 Mark Tuinei 73 Danny Noonan 75 Tony Casillas 76 Alan Veingrad 77 Jim Jeffcoat 78 Leon Lett 79 Erik Williams 80 Alvin Harper 81 Alexander Wright 82 Jimmy Smith 83 Kelvin Martin 84 Jay Novacek 87 Alfredo Roberts 88 Michael Irvin 89 Derek Tennell 90 Tony Hill 92 Tony Tolbert 94 Charles Haley 95 Chad Hennings 97 Jimmie Jones 98 Godfrey Myles -- Greg Briggs

Head Coach: Jimmy Johnson Coaches: Hubbard Alexander Joe Avezzano Joe Brodsky Dave Campo Butch Davis Robert Ford Steve Hoffman Bob Slowik Norv Turner Dave Wannstedt Tony Wise

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