BIOGRAPHY
Douglas O'Neal Middleton Jr. was born on September 25, 1993, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He is a safety for the Miami Dolphins of the NFL.
He attended Parkland high school where he was a four-year starter and two-time all-conference selection. He earned all-Forsyth County recognition as a freshman and led Forsyth County with six interceptions as a sophomore and led Winston-Salem with 102 tackles as a senior. He finished career with 13 interceptions, more than 200 tackles and over a dozen pass break-ups.
He played college football at Appalachian State University; in 2011 he Appeared in all 12 games as a true freshman with two mid-season starts at free safety and was named freshman all-American by College Sports Journal and to Southern Conference's all-freshman team.
In 2012 he earned the starting assignment at left cornerback coming out of fall camp; he had five tackles and a 29-yard kickoff return in the season opener at ECU. He received a medical redshirt from NCAA.
In 2013 he came off the bench for the first half of the season while also being a valuable contributor on special teams. He remained in the starting lineup for the rest of the season and racked up 25 tackles in five games as a starter, he finished the season with 46 tackles, good for ninth on the team and tied for the team lead with four tackles on kickoffs.
In 2014 he was first-team all-Sun Belt selection and started all 12 games at free safety. He tied for third in the Sun Belt in interceptions (4), ranked fourth in the conference in passes defended (10) and tied for 24th in the league in total tackles (74). He was the only player in the Sun Belt with at least four interceptions, ten passes defended and 70 sacks.
In 2015 he was Honorable-mention All-Sun Belt Conference and started all 12 games at strong safety for an Appalachian State defense that ranked among the nation's top 30 in total (314.5 ypg – 11th in FBS), scoring (19.1 ppg – 14th in FBS), passing (182.9 ypg – 14th in FBS) and rushing (131.5 ypg – 27th in FBS) defense. He led Appalachian State's defensive backs and tied for sixth overall on the team with 53 tackles on the season.
Middleton signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent on May 5, 2016; he was signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on December 8, 2016, and scored his first career NFL touchdown in Week 17 against the Buffalo Bills, recovering a kickoff in the endzone.
Middleton entered the 2018 season slated as the backup free safety; he played in seven games with four starts.
