BIOGRAPHY
Michael Wayne Daniels Jr. was born May 5, 1989 in Stratford, New Jersey. He is a defensive tackle in the NFL.
Daniels was born in Stratford, New Jersey to Carlene and Michael Daniels. He attended Highland Regional High School in New Jersey where he played running back and defensive tackle. During his second year, he had 41 tackles and six sacks. In his junior year he had 84 tackles and nine sacks. During his senior year, Daniels had 97 tackles and 12 sacks, which earned him first team all-conference honors. He was also twice named a team captain and rushed for 2,203 yards in his career while scoring 25 touchdowns. Daniels was also a three-year letterman in wrestling and state qualifier in the discus (43.77m or 143’06) and threw the shot put (17.95m or 58’09) at the New Jersey Meet of Champions.
Daniels was considered a two-star prospect by Rivals.com. His height was listed at six feet one inches and 230 pounds. His 40-yard dash was listed at 4.6 seconds; he bench-pressed a maximum of 300 pounds and squatted 600 pounds. Daniels was not highly recruited out of high school and only received scholarship offers from Iowa and Temple. When he was asked about why no one knew about him coming out of high school, he replied, "honestly, I don't know".
Daniels graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in sociology.
Daniels was selected in the fourth round (132nd overall) of the 2012 draft by the Green Bay Packers who first noticed him a year before when looking at other defensive linemen from Iowa. On July 24, 2019, Daniels was released by the Packers after seven seasons. Two days later, Daniels signed a one-year, $9.1 million contract with the Detroit Lions.
Daniels signed with the Cincinnati Bengals on August 12, 2020. He was placed on injured reserve on October 3, 2020, with an elbow injury. He was activated on October 24. He was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the team on January 2, 2021, and activated on January 12.
Daniels re-signed on a one-year contract with the Bengals on March 31, 2021.
