Camden’s Darian ‘Duce’ Chestnut is one step closer to fulfilling his NFL dream

Darian “Duce” Chestnut’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 from a college career that lasted five years across two schools.

“I always tell people my life’s like a movie. Like the things that happened in my life, you only see in a movie,” Chestnut said in a recent telephone interview. “So I’m just excited and grateful. You learn a lot going through a lot of things. So the ups are always good. The downs [are not] always good, but you kind of learn to balance both.”

» READ MORE: Temple’s annual Cherry and White game delivered food for thought as the offseason begins

In his first stint with Syracuse, Chestnut, a Camden High graduate, was a starter at outside corner for two years. He transferred in 2023 to LSU, 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’re 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 meant everything to us,” Chestnut said. “We’re big on [being] from Camden, and we take pride in that.”

Chestnut began the draft process at the Hula Bowl in January but did not receive an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine. He did, however, showcase his skills for scouts from nearly all 32 teams at Syracuse’s pro day.

Among the attendees at that pro day was Clark, Chestnut’s childhood friend and 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 is 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 were 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 feels cool and kind of expected of us though.”

» READ MORE: 2026 NFL draft, position by position: Could a long-term CB starter be in the cards?

Chestnut says he has gotten interest from nearly every NFL team, along with feedback on 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 he has late-round draft projections and could go undrafted like Clark, 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 would be a fun experience, for sure.”