Camden’s Darian ‘Duce’ Chestnut is one step closer to fulfilling his NFL dream
Chestnut’s college career lasted five years across two schools. He spent the past two seasons at Syracuse under Fran Brown. The defensive back will participate in the Eagles’ local pro day.
Darian “Duce” Chesnut’s career at Syracuse started with a bang. He quickly ascended as a freshman starter at cornerback, was named to the Freshman All-American list, and led the team with three interceptions.
His career at Syracuse didn’t quite end the way he had hoped, starting seven of 12 games at safety for a team that finished with a 3-9 record in 2025. But Chestnut, a Camden native, has nothing but good memories to reflect on a college career that lasted five years across two schools.
“I always tell people like, my life’s like a movie. Like the things that happened in my life, you only see a movie,” Chestnut told The Inquirer by phone recently. “So I’m just excited and grateful. You learn a lot going through a lot of things. So the ups is always good. The downs [is not] always good, but you kind of learn to balance both.”
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In his first stint with Syracuse, Chestnut, a Camden High School graduate, was a starter at outside corner for two years. He transferred to LSU in 2023, his dream school growing up, but was limited to four games because of a shoulder injury that lingered from his time with the Orange.
He returned to Syracuse in 2024 when Fran Brown, who is also from Camden, took the head coaching job. Chestnut played safety over the last two years, and says it “means a lot to see somebody from our city trying to put on the same way we trying to put” in reference to playing for Brown.
“To be able to come back and play for Fran, with Alijah Clark, Fadil Diggs … to have a lot of guys from South Jersey and just the city of Camden kind of like meant everything to us,” Chestnut said. “We’re big on that from Camden, and we take pride in that.”
Chestnut began the draft process at the Hula Bowl in January, but did not receive an invite to participate in the NFL Scouting Combine. He did, however, showcase his skills at Syracuse’s pro day with scouts from nearly all 32 teams.
Among the attendees at that pro day was Clark, Chestnut’s childhood friend who was his teammate at Camden High and Syracuse. Clark went undrafted last year, signed with the Dallas Cowboys, and made a memorable special teams play against the Eagles, forcing a fumble during a punt return to spark a 24-21 comeback victory.
The pair are one step closer to realizing a dream they talked about since they were kids.
“We played each other in little league [football], came together for flag football and seven-on-seven, and played together in high school. So this is like the conversations nobody heard like me and ‘Cinco’ kind of always been talking about this since we was younger,” Chestnut recalls. “ … We would just always sit back and say‚ ’This is the movie we talked about. This is what we always dreamed of.’ And it’s like not even really surprising. It’s kind of what we expected, because that’s what would drive us. So just actually seeing it happen now kind of feel cool and kind of expected of us though.”
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Chestnut says he has gotten interest from nearly every NFL team, and has gotten different feedback of where teams would expect him to play at the next level. Some view him as a safety, and others see him as a nickel or outside corner, because he has “the IQ to be able to maintain [my level of play] at a high level at each position.”
After participating in the Buffalo Bills’ local pro day over the weekend, Chestnut is preparing to attend the Eagles’ local pro day on Wednesday. Though Chestnut has late-round draft projections and like Clark, could go undrafted, the opportunity to play for his hometown team would “mean a lot.”
“To be able to play for a hometown team, to be able to have my city and all my family and friends come to my games, always meant everything to me,” Chestnut said. “The [Eagles have] a winning culture over there, a lot of guys that I know are on the team already, so it definitely be a fun experience, for sure.”
