Tag: Brian Dawkins

Nice honor for a Clemson legend

Maxwell Football Club Director, Mark Wolpert, announced that Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame defensive back Brian Dawkins has been selected as the winner of the 17th MFC/Harrah’s Legends Award. The Philadelphia Eagles selected Dawkins out of …

Maxwell Football Club Director, Mark Wolpert, announced that Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame defensive back Brian Dawkins has been selected as the winner of the 17th MFC/Harrah’s Legends Award.

The Philadelphia Eagles selected Dawkins out of Clemson in the second round, 61st overall, of the 1996 NFL Draft. Over the next 16 seasons, Dawkins exuded excellence on the field as he quickly became one of the most accomplished safeties in the league.

Dawkins started 13 of the 14 games he played in during his rookie season as he became a vital member of the Eagles defense. In his first professional season, he earned 74 tackles (53 solo), three interceptions, one sack, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble. He went on to lead Philadelphia in interceptions the following two years (1997-98) and earned a team tackle title in 2002.

From 2001-04, Dawkins led the Eagles defensive that was vital to four NFC championship game appearances. The Eagles fell short each year until 2004 when they blazed through the playoffs and beat the Atlanta Falcons 27-10 in the NFC championship. Philadelphia then faced the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX as Dawkins made his only Super Bowl appearance.

After 13 seasons with the Eagles and five team Defensive MVP Awards, Dawkins was signed by Denver as an unrestricted free agent shortly after the conclusion of the 2008 season. Dawkins still holds several Eagles team records, including being tied for the most career interceptions (34).

His success continued in Denver. Dawkins posted remarkable stats on the field and he also received the Denver Broncos Ed Block Courage Award in 2009.

In all, Dawkins played 224 career games with the Eagles (1996-2008) and the Broncos (2009-2011). He amassed a total of 1,131 tackles (895 solo), intercepted 37 passes which he returned for 513 yards and two touchdowns, recorded 26 sacks, and made 19 fumble recoveries.

A nine-time Pro Bowler, Dawkins was named All-Pro and All-NFC five times. In addition to being named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 2000s, Dawkins is a member of the Eagles 75th Anniversary Team and the Exclusive NFL Defensive Club (players with at least 35 career interceptions and 20 career sacks).

Often the underdog and challenged by mental health struggles early in his career, Dawkins could have easily been pulled down the wrong path. Instead, the guiding presence of his family, friends and faith served as a constant beacon of light along his path to becoming one of the most feared competitors in the National Football League and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Dawkins will be honored Friday, March 18, 2022 at the 85thMaxwell Football Club National Awards Gala which will be held at the Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, NJ. Also receiving awards at this event will be Jonathan Taylor – Indianapolis Colts (Bert Bell Award), Zach Taylor – Cincinnati Bengals (Greasy Neale Professional Coach of the Year Award), Bryce Young – Alabama (Maxwell Award), Jordan Davis – Georgia (Chuck Bednarik Award), Pat Narduzzi – University of Pittsburgh (Andy Talley Regional Coach of the Year Award), Kenny Pickett (University of Pittsburgh – FBS) and Forrest Rhyne (Villanova – FCS) (The Brian Westbrook Regional Player of the Year Award), and Brock Bowers – Georgia (Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award), Dave Aranda – Baylor University (George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year Award) Nicholas Singleton (Governor Mifflin HS – Penn State) and Mykel Williams (Hardaway HS – University of Georgia) as the MFC/ADIDAS National High School Players of the Year.

Tickets for the Maxwell Football Club National Awards Gala are available for purchase on the Club’s website https://maxwellfootballclub.org/purchase-tickets/ or by calling 215-643-3833.

Questions concerning any of the Maxwell Football Club’s awards or programs can be directed to MFC Executive Director Mark Wolpert at info@maxwellfootballclub.org.

About the Maxwell Football Club
The Maxwell Football Club (MFC) was founded in 1935 and is a registered 501c3 Non-Profit Corporation. The MFC promotes and recognizes excellence at all levels of football from youth leagues through the professional ranks. Each year the MFC offers programs which focus on player and coach development, safety, and player wellness. The Club also presents many of the premiere awards in the football world each year. Membership is open and additional information on the Club can be found at www.maxwellfootballclub.org.

–Courtesy of press release from from the Maxwell Football Club

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Future Tiger hopes to be half as good as Clemson legend

Clemson signed a hard-hitting safety with elite ball skills as a part of its 2022 recruiting class. Oscar Smith (Chesapeake, Va.) four-star Sherrod Covil, Jr. inked with Dabo Swinney’s program on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period …

Clemson signed a hard-hitting safety with elite ball skills as a part of its 2022 recruiting class.

Oscar Smith (Chesapeake, Va.) four-star Sherrod Covil, Jr. inked with Dabo Swinney’s program on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period for class of 2022 football recruits.

Fair or not, some Tigers fans have already started to draw comparisons to a former Clemson legend in Brian Dawkins.

Covil understands the weight of those comparisons, claiming that if he could be half the safety that Dawkins was, he would be good with that. Dawkins, of course, is one of the best safeties of his generation and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Nobody is anointing Covil just yet, but there’s no denying his potential.

“This is what a safety should look like when you watch this guy play when you watch him run and you watch him tackle,” Swinney said during his National Signing Day press conference.

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Steelers’ Minkah Fitzpatrick on growing up an Eagles’ fan; Brian Dawkins being ‘his guy’

Steelers star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick says he grew up an Eagles fan, and Donovan McNabb and Brian Dawkins were his favorite players.

Minkah Fitzpatrick won’t be an unrestricted free agent until the 2023 NFL season, but you can definitely book Philadelphia as a potential destination if Pittsburgh doesn’t use the franchise tag on the all-world safety.

During a random Wednesday night Q&A with fans, Fitzpatrick was asked his favorite team growing up and the New Jersey native went with the Philadelphia Eagles over the Jets or Giants.

The Steelers star confirmed that quarterback Donovan McNabb and Hall of Fame safety, Brian Dawkins were his two favorite players.

Fitzpatrick is from Old Bridge, New Jersey, some 65 miles north of Philadelphia and 35 miles south of New York City, making it an almost equal split.

Fitzpatrick has earned Pro Bowl selections in each of the past two NFL seasons and the Steelers will surely pick up his fifth-year option by May 3 and his strong play will earn the safety $4 million extra.

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Steelers S Minkah Fitzpatrick aspires to emulate former Raven Ed Reed

The Steelers All-Pro safety discussed safeties that he would like to emulate.

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Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick has been watching the enemy.

When prompted as to what safeties he admires, studies and would like to emulate, Fitzpatrick first mentioned former Ravens safety, Ed Reed.

“Ed Reed was a guy I really liked,” Fitzpatrick said to the media on Monday. “This offseason I broke down a lot of his film. He was an athlete, but also was an intellectual when it came to the game. He did a lot of things to bait quarterbacks. He did a lot of things to learn the game, and with that, he was able to make plays that a normal safety wouldn’t be able to make.”

Fitzpatrick also mentioned retired Eagle Brian Dawkins and current Lion Glover Quinn.

All offseason, Fitzpatrick has been giving props to Reed and Dawkins. But he hasn’t forgotten about Troy Polamalu (who we know is the best of them all).

In a recent Steelers Nation Unite Huddle, Fitzpatrick said he grew up watching the likes of the All-Pro safeties.

The New Jersey native grew up a Philadelphia Eagles fan and admired Dawkins’s on-field presence. “I love watching Dawkins play football,” Fitzpatrick confessed. “He was just a ballhawk. He flew around the field all the time.”

“Obviously, the other legends, Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed,” he added. “You just saw them making plays week-to-week. I was like, ‘I want to be doing what they’re doing one day’. Those are guys that, even to this day, I study and watch their film and listen to them whenever they speak about football because they just have so much knowledge of the game.”

Each had their phenomenal careers, which rightfully earned them spots in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Defensive backs will revere Polamalu’s career for generations. He was like a pinball flying around on the field and posted 32 interceptions, 14 forced fumbles, 12 sacks and 783 tackles (56 for loss) and 12 QB hits in 12 seasons.

We’re all too familiar with Reed and what he brought to the field every game. He corralled a jaw-dropping 64 interceptions along with 11 forced fumbles, six sacks, 646 tackles (34 for loss), and two QB hits over 13 seasons.

Dawkins amassed 37 interceptions, 36 forced fumbles, 26 sacks, 17 QB hits and 1,147 tackles (59 for loss) in a career that spanned 16 years.

In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Dawkins spoke highly of Fitzpatrick.

“I always called myself a freelance safety,” Dawkins told Bleacher Report. “That’s why I love guys who have that ability to be a chess piece. Checkers, you can only move from one slot to the next. Certain chess pieces can move across the board. You can use them in so many different ways. So when you think about Mink? Chess piece. All-day long, he’s a chess piece — if you have a coordinator who understands that.”

Polamalu, Reed and Dawkins are three of the best safeties ever to play the game. As far as players to emulate and desire to live up to, that trio of Hall of Famers is as good as you get.

All stats are courtesy of Pro Football Reference

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Brian Dawkins and Troy Vincent were mentors to K’Von Wallace prior to his selection by the Eagles

K’Von Wallace being mentored by Brian Dawkins, Troy Vincent

The Philadelphia Eagles may have landed the steal of the draft in former Clemson safety K’Von Wallace when they snagged him in the fourth round.

A stud safety at Clemson, Wallace’s play reminds many of former Eagles great and Hall of Famer, Brian Dawkins. The Eagles won’t have to worry about finding Wallace a mentor because he already has two in Dawkins and former Eagles cornerback and current executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent.

Because of Wallace’s relationship with Dawkins son and an internship with Vincent and the NFL, the Eagles rookie sensation had mentors in two former Eagles prior to Philadelphia selecting him per NBC Sports Philadelphia.

“(Vincent) and Brian are the same people,” Wallace said. “It was rarely football when it came to both of those guys.”

Wallace and Dawkins Jr. both arrived at Clemson in the fall of 2016 and ended up as roommates and friends, thus forging the relationship between the Eagles legend and the Tigers safety.

“They’re like family,” Wallace said of the Dawkins’. “My mom knows his mom very well.”

Wallace and Vincent’s relationship developed from postgraduate endeavors after the Clemson safety did an internship with the NFL this past year.

“I sat in Troy’s office and talked to him for hours,” Wallace said. “But we never really talked much football. We just talked about life. Just how to become a better man, a better person. He’s a family-oriented guy. He loves his family, loves his wife, loves his kids. Just talking to him and chatting with him about just life and what the Bible says about how to become a better man and help your community.”

The relationships should prepare Wallace for what he’s about to embark on next with the Eagles as he brings his physical style and winning nature to Philadelphia.

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Former Eagles Brian Dawkins and Brian Westbrook address Terrell Owens Donovan McNabb fued

USA TODAY Sports’ Mackenzie Salmon sits down with former Eagles to discuss the tension between Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens.

USA TODAY Sports’ Mackenzie Salmon sits down with former Eagles to discuss the tension between Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens.

Brian Dawkins: a Super Bowl win will seal Andy Reid’s legacy in the NFL

SportsPulse: Legendary Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins talks about Andy Reid and explains why he wants to wait to congratulate him on all his success in the NFL.

SportsPulse: Legendary Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins talks about Andy Reid and explains why he wants to wait to congratulate him on all his success in the NFL.

Flashback Friday: Giants’ Jeremy Shockey outduels Brian Dawkins for TD

In our latest Giants Wire Flashback Friday, we look at one of the most memorable regular season plays in New York football history.

In running back Saquon Barkley, the New York Giants possess a well-respected weapon that the rest of the NFL has to account for. When healthy, he is as “beast-mode” as they come in this game.

But when it comes to being a beast in the NFC East, no Giant offensive player was more feared — or successful — than tight end Jeremy Shockey.

When the Giants selected the Miami star with the 14th overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft, general manager Ernie Accorsi didn’t look at him as just another tight end.

”I look at him as a weapon, something that we really needed,” Accorsi said.

Shockey turned out to be as special as the Giants had hoped. He would make an immediate impact on the Giants, becoming the standard for today’s pass-catching, physical tight ends and qualifying for the Pro Bowl in four of his first five seasons with the club.

But Shockey was a lighting rod of a player that angered his own team and fans with too much swagger and lacked focus both on and off the field. There were times when he had no peer. Then there were the times that had us all shaking our heads. He was traded after the 2007 season.

One thing is for certain, though. He made the Giants a team to respect, especially in the NFC East. In Shockey’s 10-year NFL career (six with the Giants), his teams had a 21-13 record against the Cowboys, Redskins and Eagles.

Here is a signature play where Shockey outdoes future Pro Football Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins for a touchdown.

To most NFL observers, this is a play between two players that were hated around the league. It was especially gratifying moment for Giant fans, though, who had a particular distaste for Dawkins.

As great a competitor as Dawkins was, all of his bravado wasn’t enough when it came to dealing with Shockey. Dawkins earned himself a place in football history with his aggressive play, but on this particular play, it was Shockey that got the last laugh — and word.

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Champ Bailey, Brian Dawkins named finalists for ‘NFL 100 All-Time Team’

Former Broncos defensive backs Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins are finalists for the NFL’s all-time team.

Former Denver Broncos defensive backs Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins have been named finalists for the “NFL 100 All-Time Team,” the league announced this week. Cornerback Willie Brown, who played in Denver from 1963-1966, was also named a finalist.

The NFL will announce which cornerbacks and safeties made the cut on NFL Network on Friday evening.

Bailey was voted to 12 Pro Bowls during his career and is a member of the NFL’s 2000s All-Decade Team and the Broncos’ Top 100 team. He spent 10 seasons in Denver.

Dawkins was voted to nine Pro Bowls during his career and is also a member of the NFL’s 2000s All-Decade Team and the Broncos’ Top 100 team. He only spent three seasons in Denver but he was one of the Broncos’ best defenders during that time.

Last week, DeMarcus Ware (defensive line) and Von Miller (linebacker) were finalists but neither of them made the team. Terrell Davis was a finalist at running back but he did not make the team, either.

The complete team of 100 players and 10 coaches will be revealed on NFL Network on Friday, Dec. 27 in celebration of the league’s 100 years.

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