Superbowl Champion to UFL Standout - Jaydon Mickens Is Still Chasing More
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - April 30, 2026
By Steve Irvine
Football is a self-described “sanctuary” for Jaydon Mickens.
It helped the Birmingham Stallions wide receiver get out of some of the toughest streets in Los Angeles and created a path toward getting a college education at the University of Washington. It’s been his chosen career, at least thus far, as an adult and took him to the summit as a professional football as a Super Bowl champion. At 31 years of age, he is the oldest player on the Birmingham Stallions and was also the oldest player on last year’s UFL championship DC Defenders team. He wants to continue with the sport until “the wheels fall off,” but there is no sign of that happening just yet.
“It’s something that is part of me,” Mickens said. “Without football, I wouldn’t know how to be on time for things. I wouldn’t know how to respond from a lot of different adversities. The adversity can be a loss and how you're going to respond to the next week and the next day. But also the adversity is a win. And are you going to let that win and let that 100-yard game and a touchdown take you to a mental situation where you're comfortable? So I'm always in a non-comfort zone and it's in a positive way. Football put me in a non-comfort zone to always want more. We can do better. The hard work and preparation that goes into it, you can't be wrong if you're prepared. You can't be wrong if you're in shape. You can't be wrong if it's your passion and it's what you love. It literally goes hand in hand with me in life.”
Mickens is thriving in his latest football destination. He has cemented himself as one of the UFL’s top receivers as the teams reach the midway point of the season. Mickens has 28 catches for 329 yards with one receiving touchdown. Heading into the sixth week of games, he is second in the UFL in receptions, trailing Dallas’ Tyler Vaughns by one catch, and is third behind Vaughns (399 yards) and St. Louis standout Hakeem Butler (358) in total receiving yards. Mickens has a pair of nine catch games and gained more than 100 yards in each of those games. He’s joined with Deon Cain to form one of the top pass-catching duos in the UFL.
A year ago, Mickens had 30 catches for 372 yards for a DC Defenders team that whipped the Michigan Panthers, 58-34, in the UFL Championship Game. He was at his best in the title game, grabbing six catches for 132 with his lone touchdown catch of the season.
Mickens is using these past two seasons to prove to the NFL that he still belongs in the league.
“Oh, man, I appreciate the UFL more than they know because everybody's actually seeing the guy that should be in the league, that should be in year 11 in the league,” Mickens said. “I was a part returner for the (foundation) of my career and I still did duties at receiver when I needed to. But I also am number two all-time at the University of Washington in number of receptions and top 10 in yards. The statistics show that I'm just not that prototypical guy as a punt returner. The UFL allowed me to show my talents as a true wide receiver, slot receiver and all-around player. I'm really indebted to the UFL and forever grateful.”
Mickens’ NFL career began as an undrafted free agent with the Oakland Raiders in 2016 and includes stops at five other organizations. He had two stints with Jacksonville Jaguars and got his first NFL game day action with the Jaguars in 2017. He was the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week twice that season and his punt returns included a 63-yarder for a touchdown and a 72-yarder that came up a yard short of another touchdown. In 2019, he joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he was part of the Super Bowl championship team.
“You ever won the lottery?” Mickens said when asked what it felt like to be a Super Bowl champion. “It comes with all the perks you think it comes with. I get to go to every Super Bowl for the rest of my life and get treated a little differently. You got a suite, you got a room paid for. It's life-changing. It's nothing that I've ever envisioned, being a Super Bowl champion. Yeah, it came across my heart when you see it. It was like, yeah, that would be nice. But it’s such a far-fetched opportunity and one that I'm forever grateful for. The feeling is something that you'll never feel again unless you become a billionaire or something like that.”
Mickens is content with continuing to chase that NFL dream but he also has a clear plan for life after football.
“Right now I'm building my members-only compound, which is a high society compound,” Mickens said. “It's a members-only institution, a country club for networking, a country club for people that want to grow to grow and get to the next level mentally, financially, physically and then on. We're south of Houston, Texas. I'm building the first model ever right now. We have a liquor license on the property. We've got about 17,000 square feet. I'm going to have a basketball court on the property. We're going to have different events throughout the weeks and throughout the years, like masquerade ball, fashion shows, mental health awareness, giving back to the youth, having youth basketball tournaments. We're going to literally have a multitude of things to give a lot of people back the knowledge that I know, the knowledge that I can from a high level of playing football for a long time. I'm just building a community of networking and like-minded people.”
Mickens said that will open in July but that’s also just part of his plan.
“I'm an entrepreneur,” Mickens said. “I own houses, I’m in the real estate business. We're going to get into construction, exotic rental cars from Lamborghini to Rolls Royce Cullinan and a chauffeur service with Cadillac Escalades. We're going into youth centers that we're not doing right now but we're in talks in Los Angeles, Texas and Florida. I'm gearing up to be a mogul and billionaire, but right now, I'm keeping the football the main thing and then we'll get to that when it's done.”