page_title: D. J. Swearinger
section_title: 2014
hierarchical_section_title: D. J. Swearinger / Professional career / Houston Texans / 2014
caption_attribution_description: English: D. J. Swearinger, a player on the National Football League.
context_page_description: Dayarlo Jamal "D. J." Swearinger Sr. is an American football strong safety for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. He played college football at South Carolina and was drafted by the Houston Texans in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He has also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins, Arizona Cardinals, and Oakland Raiders.
context_section_description: Swearinger competed with Eddie Pleasant for the vacant starting strong safety job after Daniel Manning departed during the off season via free agency. New Houston Texans' head coach Bill O'Brien named Swearinger the starting strong safety to begin the 2014 season.
  The next preseason, Swearinger was involved in a hit that caused a concussion on Denver Broncos wide receiver Wes Welker. On the following play, Broncos' quarterback Peyton Manning confronted Swearinger after completing a touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders, later resulting in Manning's first fine in his NFL career.
  He started the Houston Texans' season-opener against the Washington Redskins' and recorded eight combined tackles and his first career sack on Robert Griffin III during their 17-6 victory. On October 26, 2014, he collected three combined tackles, deflected two passes, and intercepted a pass attempt by Tennessee Titans' quarterback Zach Mettenberger during the Texans' 30-16 victory. The next game, he tied his season-high of eight combined tackles, as the Houston Texans lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 21-31. He finished the season with a career-high 73 combined tackles (51 solo), six pass deflections, two interceptions, and a sack in 12 starts and 16 games. Pro Football Focus ranked him the 78th best safety out of 87 during the 2014 season. Under Defensive Coordinator Romeo Crennel, he was used as a safety/linebacker hybrid and was primarily used in the box for run support.
caption: Swearinger playing for the Houston Texans in 2014.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "5184", "Image ImageLength": "3456", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS REBEL T2i", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Elements Organizer 12.0", "Image DateTime": "2014:08:24 14:00:38", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "286", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "864", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10249", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "3200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:08:23 20:28:47", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:08:23 20:28:47", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "67/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "250", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "48", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1247", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1707", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "724", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1036800/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "691200/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}