Mickens Hopes to Get a Good Night's Sleep Before Super Bowl

The one-time Husky pass-catcher used to have unusual sleeping arrangements when he first joined the NFL.

When former Washington Husky receiver Jaydon Mickens settles under a soaring kickoff or a towering punt in Super Bowl LV, his journey to Tampa might seem improbable to some who know him.

But this is exactly how the diminutive Mickens planned it.

OK, maybe not planned, but how he dreamed it.

On Sunday, he'll play in the biggest game of his life as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Kansas City Chiefs.

In Tampa.

With 200 million TV viewers watching.

"I've always felt that I could play football at the highest level," he said.

At times in his life, even with everything seemingly stacked against him, Mickens never doubted that he would wind up on a big stage.

His family made sure of that.

"When he was little, we were always putting him in a uniform," said Judy Johnson, Jaydon's mother. "Baseball, basketball, football, track. He excelled at them all."

The uniforms served another purpose, too. It kept him safe.

"We did what we had to keep him busy to keep off of the streets," Johnson said.

Growing up the middle of Los Angeles, Jaydon's mom had witnessed the gangland violence that riddled the Southern California in the late 1980s throughout the '90s. She wanted Jaydon to have no part of that life.

Back then, Johnson ironically dated Joe Kelly, who would become a standout linebacker for the UW and several NFL teams and operates homes for at-risk children in Cincinnati. Maybe he was destined to become a Husky all along, as well as a good citizen.

"The crack epidemic took over and that magnified the gang violence over territorial disputes about who could sell crack in certain neighborhoods," Kelly said.

Football would provide Mickens with a safe haven at Dorsey High School and later at the University of Washington, where the 5-10, 170-pound athlete used one to earn a scholarship to reach the other.

This would enable him to keep going all the way to the NFL, though it was never an easy journey.

Along the way, Mickens was cut by Oakland, Jacksonville, Carolina and even Tampa Bay before he had a late-season signing this past fall and joined the Buccaneers make the current run to the Super Bowl.

Prior to that, he went undrafted in 2016, spent a season with the Oakland Raiders before being cut and played for Jacksonville in 2017 and 2018 seasons before a broken ankle sidetracked his career.

Jayden Mickens gets behind the New England secondary :: Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports

Husky Heroics

A change of scenery has never been too much for Mickens to handle.

From 2012 to 2015 at the UW, he caught passes from three different quarterbacks and answered to two different head coaches in Steve Sarkisian and Chris Petersen.

From Dorsey High, Mickens had followed teammate and fellow wide receiver Marvin Hall to Seattle. It was a good choice for him. Once at the UW, he teamed other speedsters such as John Ross to form the Legion of Zoom.

There was a certain amount of pressure on him to convert his Husky experience into a pro football career, too. Dorsey High has sent the second-most players to the NFL behind Long Beach Poly. After all, Hall, who played for the Detroit Lions this past seson, made this happen, too.

Mickens became a fan favorite for the UW, using his speed and quickness to rank second all-time with 203 catches and sixth all-time with 2,187 receiving yards. Wearing No. 4 or 1, he regularly used to bring the fans out of their seats at Husky Stadium.

A Sleep of Faith

In Jacksonville, Jaydon considered his pro football future and decided he would take drastic measures to make it work. He slept in his car. He showered and ate at the team's training facility. Never sure how long this would all last, he felt the need to save his paychecks.

He wouldn't take a handout; he was determined to do things his way.

It was with Jacksonville in 2017 that he nearly made to the Super Bowl only to have a current teammate get in the way. The Jaguars lost 24-20 to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game. Brady, of course, is with him in Tampa Bay now.

Not only has he been a skilled returner, Mickens caught a pair of touchdown passes in a 45-7 victory over the Houston Texans to clinch that 2017 playoff spot.

The good times didn't last long, though.

In 2018, he fractured his ankle for the Jags and missed two-thirds of the season.

A year later, he got cut by the Carolina Panthers right before the season began.

Those saved paychecks came in handy.

Jaydon Mickens returns a punt against Green Bay :: Mike De Sisti/USA TODAY Sports

Super Sunday

Entering Super Bowl LV, Mickens averages 24.5 yards per kickoff return. He's a threat to go all the way every time he touches the football.

He carries no thoughts of signaling for a fair catch.

His mom taught him to be fearless.

This has paid off.

In 2017, he returned a punt 63 yards for a Jags touchdown against Cincinnati in a 23-7 victory.

Later that season, he went 72 yards on a punt runback against the Seattle Seahawks, only to get pulled down on the 1 in a 30-24 win.

So here he is now in the Super Bowl, waiting for a kick to come to him, ready to show what he can do.

As Mickens watches the ball sail through the air, the best thing about this moment is this: he will have had a good night's sleep anywhere but in his car.