Growing up in Washington, Tyler Brayton played a lot of sports. His grandfather was a baseball coach and he thought he was destined for the diamond. That was until his lanky body got coordinated and he started to excel at football in high school.  

He was recruited by a number of schools and felt drawn to Boulder where Rick Neuheisel was the head coach. After his first season, Coach Neuheisel left and Gary Barnett was hired. Normally a new coach would make a first-year player nervous, however Tyler had been recruited by Coach Barnett’s previous school, Northwestern, so the familiarity was already there.  

Tyler racked up some nice numbers for the Buffs as a Defensive End: in 74 games, he had 47 starts, 152 tackles, 12 ½ sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries and 6 passes defensed. Heading into the NFL was an obvious next step and Tyler thought he’d be a 2nd or 3rd round pick.  Instead, he was picked in the 1st round by the then-Oakland Raiders.  

In 5 seasons with the Raiders, Tyler had 4 different head coaches. His first-year stats were impressive as he started all 16 games under Bill Callahan. After that, however, his numbers started to decline and with one year left on his six-year contract, Tyler nullified his deal and became a free agent.  

He resurrected his career under John Fox and the Carolina Panthers where he spent 3 seasons and then finished his NFL career with the Colts. He wasn’t ready to be done, however when no one called, he knew it was time.  

Today, Tyler is the head football coach of Arapahoe High School and enjoys spending time with his wife and their 3 children.