Danny Survivor NFL: All you need to know about the former Cowboys safety

So near and yet so far! Danny McCray, more popularly known as Danny Survivor, is finally eliminated after he was voted out of the Survivor 41 series. Of the six people remaining, he was the one who could not make it through to the top 5. But his enignmatic presence on the series will always be remembered by fans of Danny Survivor.

But before Danny McCray became Danny Survivor, he was Danny the NFL player. The former NFL safety played for the Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Bears. Read ahead to find out more about his life.

Danny McCray to Danny Survivor: A look back

Danny McCray's story begins in Houston, Texas. He played football for Westfield High School and was selected to LSU. At LSU, he played on special teams and was a backup linebacker and safety.

As has happened with countless others, he did not get selected on draft day. But while the moniker Danny Survivor might be recent, in spirit, he has always been a consummate survivor. He was signed by the Dallas Cowboys in 2010 as an undrafted free agent. He showed his qualities there and first established himself as a special teams player.

Leading the tackle count for consecutive years with the Dallas Cowboys special teams, he became captain of the unit in his third year. The third year also saw him establish himself as the starting strong safety after Barry Church suffered an injury. But he failed to juggle his work on special teams and as a safety, and his production suffered. It is something that he did not recover from in his fourth season either.

In 2014, he joined the Chicago Bears and played a year with them. They did not re-sign him, and he spent the next season with the Dallas Cowboys again. The year 2015 turned out to be his last season in the NFL.

Danny McCray was born to Roger Wayne Harris and LaQuita McCray-Harris in Houston, Texas, United States. He uses his mother's maiden name. He married his girlfriend Kiki McCray in April 2019. In September 2020, they had a daughter, and they named her Zoë Ann McCray.

He joined the Survivor series this year and made it all the way to the top 6 spots before being eliminated. Along the way, he never leaned on his NFL fame and carved a separate identity as Danny Survivor. But when he was eliminated, he could not help but profess fidelity to the team and the sport that made him. His parting words on Survivor were "Go, Cowboys!"