Dhani Jones

Dhani Makalani Jones is a former American football linebacker who played for eleven seasons in the National Football League. He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines, earning All-Big Ten honors for three straight seasons. He was selected by the New York Giants in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft and played for the team for four seasons. Jones also played for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cincinnati Bengals, and briefly joined the New Orleans Saints.

Jones attended middle school at Cabin John Middle School in Potomac, Maryland, where he played basketball. As a senior at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland, Jones was an All-Met, All-Western Region, and an All-County pick, and was ranked the fifth-best linebacker prospect in the Atlantic Coast Region despite missing most of the regular season with a ruptured disc he injured working out for Penn State earlier in the summer. Jones was also a varsity wrestler in high school, as well as a member of his high school's track team.

At the University of Michigan, Jones was a three-time All-Big Ten honoree. As a sophomore, Jones started nine games at linebacker and finished second on the team with 90 tackles and six sacks, playing alongside Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson on Michigan's 1997 national champion squad. As a junior in 1998, Jones started at linebacker and finished with 72 tackles. Jones moved to strong side linebacker as a senior in 1999 and again finished second on the team with 81 tackles.

Jones is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and is an initiate of the Epsilon chapter at the University of Michigan.

The Philadelphia Eagles acquired Jones from the Giants as a free agent in 2004. During Jones' stint with the Eagles, he started in Super Bowl XXXIX. On April 30, 2007, the Eagles released Jones.

On July 6, 2007, Jones signed with the New Orleans Saints, though he was released on September 1, 2007. He then signed a one-year contract with the Bengals on September 19, 2007, and subsequently signed a 3-year contract to return to the Bengals in the 2008 offseason. Following the 2010 season, Jones retired from the NFL after not being offered a new contract.

Jones is the star of "Dhani Tackles the Globe," a series for the Travel Channel in which he learns how to play international sports that are unknown to most Americans. For example, in the first season, he played Rugby Union for English club Blackheath. The show had a successful first season and began airing a second season on April 19, 2010.

In 2010, Jones opened the Bow Tie Cafe in the historic Mount Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati, which sells coffee, drinks, and cafe sandwiches. He also founded a company that sells high-end bowties and writes movie reviews and commentary for Page2 on ESPN.com.

Jones is an avid bicyclist, using his fixed-gear bicycle to commute to practices and games throughout the year. He also participated in the cycling leg of the Durham Doughman Challenge on Travel Channel's "Man v. Food," a team quadrathlon consisting of running, swimming, cycling, and food eating.

On June 7, 2011, Jones' book, "The Sportsman: Unexpected Lessons from an Around-the-World Sports Odyssey," was released. The book discusses his experiences in football, travel, and life in general.