Brian Dawkins

2001 NFC – St. Louis Rams 29, Philadelphia Eagles 24

Dawkins started at free safety. He had six tackles and one pass defensed.

2002 NFC – Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27, Philadelphia Eagles 10

Dawkins started at free safety. He had three tackles and three assists.

2003 NFC – Carolina Panthers 14, Philadelphia Eagles 3

Dawkins started at free safety.

2004 NFC – Philadelphia Eagles 27, Atlanta Falcons 10

Dawkins started at free safety. He had one tackle, two passes defensed, one forced fumble, and a interception returned for 19 yards.

Super Bowls

Super Bowl XXXIX – New England Patriots 24, Philadelphia Eagles 21

Dawkins started at free safety. He had four tackles and one assist.

All-League Teams

All-Pro: 2001 (AP, PFWA, SN)  ·  2002 (AP, PFWA, SN)  ·  2004 (AP, PFWA, SN)  ·  2006 (AP)  ·  2009 (SN)

All-Pro Second Team: 2009 (AP)

All-NFC: 1999 (PW)  ·  2001 (PW)  ·  2002 (PW)  ·  2004 (PW)  ·  2006 (PW)

Pro Bowls

(9) – 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007* 2009, 2010, 2012

_{*Did not play}

In the NFL Record Book (at time of his retirement following 2011 season)

Pro Bowl Records

• [Tied for 1st] Most Interceptions, Game – 2 (2000)
• [Tied for 2nd] Most Interceptions, Career – 3 

Team Records

Eagles records held by Dawkins

(Records through the 2008 season, Dawkin’s final season with Philadelphia)

• [1st] Most Games Played, Career – 183
• [Tied for 1st] Most Interceptions, Career – 34
• [2nd] Most Interception Return Yards, Career – 515
• [Tied for 2nd] Most Seasons – 13
• [Tied for 2nd] Most Pro Bowl Selections – 7

Awards and Honors

• 1999 Philadelpha Eagles Defensive MVP
• 2002 Philadelpha Eagles Defensive MVP
• 2004 Philadelpha Eagles Defensive MVP
• 2006 NFC Defensive Player of the Month (December)
• 2006 Philadelpha Eagles Defensive MVP
• 2008 NFC Defensive Player of the Month (December)
• 2008 Philadelpha Eagles Defensive MVP
• 2009 Denver Broncos Ed Block Courage Award
• 2000s All-Decade Team

League/Team Statistical Titles

Team Statistical Championships  

            Interceptions Titles: 1997, 1998

            Tackles Titles: 2002

Year-by-Year Team Records

1996     Philadelphia Eagles.......... 10-6-0   (2nd)

1997     Philadelphia Eagles............. 6-9-1   (3rd)

1998     Philadelphia Eagles............ 3-13-0   (5th)

1999     Philadelphia Eagles............ 5-11-0   (5th)

2000     Philadelphia Eagles.......... 11-5-0   (2nd)

2001     Philadelphia Eagles.......... 11-5-0   (1st)

2002     Philadelphia Eagles.......... 12-4-0   (1st)

2003     Philadelphia Eagles.......... 12-4-0   (1st)

(Division Finish in Parentheses)

Qualified for Postseason in Bold

Full Name: Brian Patrick Dawkins

Birthdate: October 13, 1973

Birthplace: Jacksonville, Florida

High School: William M. Raines (Jacksonville, FL)

Pro Career: 16 seasons, 224 games

Drafted: 2nd round (61st overall) in 1996 by Philadelphia  

Oh, glory, hallelujah.

First of all, hallelujah!  So, as you look on my shirt, it says "Blessed by the Best."  And throughout my life, the Lord has blessed me with so many individuals.  So, if it was up to me, Hall of Fame, this is what I would do with my jacket, if you would appease me.

I would like to put every last one of the individuals that I told you was special in my life in my jacket somewhere, all right, so every time that I put this thing on, it reminds me, it reminds me visually and emotionally, that I did not do this by myself, because I did not do this by myself.  I did not.

To my big brother, Troy, brother, I thank you.  I thank you for the example that you set for me.  Like you were a rabbit for me to chase.  The way that you handled your business, the way that you ‑‑ techniques on the field, I looked up to you, and that's why I had you present me. 

So thank you for being the man that you are and allowed me to look at you, model myself after you and become the man that I have become.  Thank you, my brother.

Sapp, P‑Sapp, brother, man, you were my rabbit I chased all through high school, brother.  You were that dude.  I wanted much success for you, but what I wanted, I wanted to come get you, brother.  I wanted to supplant you to be that dude.

Listen, I know I didn't do it by myself, and so there's coaches, there's teachers, my family.  I'll talk about them later.  There's doctors, because I'm a physical safety so I was beat up quite a bit, trainers, massage therapists, my teammates.

Listen, teammates, listen, I had a healthy dose of fear of letting you down.  That's why I went so doggone hard.  I never wanted to let you down.

I didn't.  Anything that I could do for you, you know I would do for you.  And it's not just those who are sitting here looking at me now or all of you looking at this on TV, I gave everything I had till the last drop for you because I loved you so doggone much.  So, thank you.

So, when I put this jacket on, Jacksonville became another Hall of Famer, the Northside/Duval County became another Hall of Famer.  Over on the north side of town, Yancey Park, they have a Hall of Famer.  My high school Pop Warner ‑‑ excuse me, my Pop Warner team, Forestview, they have a Hall of Famer.  My high school, Raines High School, has a Hall of Famer.  Clemson, you have a Hall of Famer and you are a Hall of Famer.

Football was what I did; it is not who I am.  It did not define me.  I repeat the same things that Brian Urlacher said.  I am a blessed man of God, and the Lord has blessed me to do the things that I do. 

And so, nothing just happens in my life.  The majority of success that I have had have come on the back end of pain.  Pain has pushed me to levels unknown.  For me at the time, all I know that that was pain, but on the other side of it, all of a sudden, I became better in an area.

So, when we go through those situations in our lives, pain helps you develop those things that is going to take you to the next level of whatever it is the Lord has for you.  Believe that.  I'm a living testimony of that. 

See, there's a purpose for my pain.  There's a purpose for my pain.  As you've been listening, all of you probably read all this week, I suffer from depression.  I went through it mightily my rookie year.  I've suffered through suicidal thoughts, and I wasn't just suffering through suicidal thoughts, I was actually planning the way that I would kill myself so that my wife would get the money.

But what that pain did for me, it increased my faith exponentially.  I have grown leaps and bounds because of the things that I've gone through, and that's one of those things that I've went through.  And when I say, "went through," that means I came on the other side of it.

So, for those who are going through right now, there's hope.  You do have hope.  There is something on the other side of this.  Don't get caught up where you are.  Don't stay where you are.  Keep moving.  Keep pushing through.

It wasn't supposed to be me.  This wasn't supposed to happen to Brian Dawkins.  It was not.  I was not the biggest of guys growing up.  I was not always the dude; that's why I was chasing Pat so doggone much. 

But it was never me.  And I was always called little this, little that.  And I got tired of that crap.  So, I grew a chip on my shoulder, but also what began to grow was anger in me.  And that anger in me became violent anger that I would lose control of every once in a while.

And the Lord spoke to me.  He said:  When you have that type of energy, let's think about a water, let's think about a flood.  When a flood comes, it comes and it washes everything out of its way.  But when you put a dam up and then you put vents in it to allow water to flow through the dam, it gives you energy endless.

So, when you see me crawling like that, when you see me acting the fool, that's some of that energy that I let out from that anger that I had bottled up.  Yeah, that chip on my shoulder.

I'm not looking down on those who talked about me, but I want to thank for my haters.  I want to thank those people that told me through other people that I wouldn't be where I am today; that I couldn't make it because I was too small, because I couldn't do this, that, or the other.

But what the Lord told me was:  Listen, you know the turbines that you have that the wind pushes and you can generate energy from it?  Guess what their words were to me.  They just pushed my turbine.  They gave me even more energy.  So, my haters became my elevators.  They helped me out.  So, thank you.  Thank you for all those who kept doubting me and told me what I couldn't do.

I have some thank yous to get through.  I have ‑‑ I'm going to be respectful of others' time, so I got some thank yous to get to.

Coach Stephens, my high school coach, he's here today.  Coach Stephens, I want to thank you, and I want to thank you for allowing me to play defense, Coach, and not letting me play offense.  When I asked you could I go to the defensive side of the ball, you said yes.  And, Coach Stephens, I thank you for that because on that defensive side of the ball is where I love and where I live and where I'm blessed to be.  So, thank you.

Coach Black.  Coach Black was my high school defensive back coach.  Coach Black, here's what I want to tell you:  I want to thank you for allowing me to come into your office when I was struggling in school, when I was questioning can I even go to college because I didn't know what I didn't know at that time, and it was so hard for me to learn. 

You tutored me.  You helped me.  You brought people into the classroom to help tutor me, to help me get my grades up to even get a chance to go to Clemson.  So, listen, you didn't know this:  My major is because of you.  Industrial education, human resource development is because of you.  So, thank you for your trust in me.  Thank you for showing me the way, brother.  Thank you.

To my late, great ‑‑ to my late high school basketball coach, Coach Humphrey.  He's not here.  But what Coach Humphrey taught me is that if he can't break me, nobody can, because we ran more than the track team.  We did so many things. 

Usually people would run 20 laps, 15 laps.  Coach Humphrey would have us run 100 laps, 50 laps, 75 laps.  There were times we didn't touch the ball; we ran the whole practice.  And then we would think we were about to start doing some basketball drills, he would say:  All right, see you next time.

So, when I went through that pain, what he taught me was that if he can't break me, nobody can't break me.  So, what he did is, Philadelphia, he got me mentally strong to be able to survive anything that you can dish out to me.  Anything.

I want to thank Ray Rhodes, Mr. John Wooten, for believing in me, bringing me.  I want to thank Mr. Jeffrey Lurie.  Thank you for bringing me to the Philadelphia Eagles, for trusting in me, the smallest safety from Jacksonville, Florida. 

I'm going to try to hold onto it right now.  Emmitt Thomas.  All right, Emmitt, I want to thank you.  I want to thank you.  Where are you at, E?  Where you at, E?  Nah, I can't because I'm going to start crying.

E, you blessed me, brother.  I call you Uncle Emmitt for a reason.  When I was in those depressive states, when I was thinking about suicide, it was because of your hand, your guidance, and your believing in me, helping me to go see somebody about the struggles that I was having that allowed me to be alive today. 

So, you're one of those guardian angels that blessed by the best, yes.  I've been blessed, and he's one of the best that I'm talking about.  So, Emmitt, thank you.

But also, what Emmitt did for me is Emmitt would not let me settle for average.  He would not let me settle for good.  He saw greatness in me that I did not see.  He saw something in me, and he would not let me settle.  He kept pushing me.  He was hard.  I was angry sometimes.  Like, I mean, I had a good game.  No, you didn't.  You should have made that.  You saw that play.  You should have made this.  So, he kept pushing me.

So E.T., the player that Jim Johnson got ‑‑ and I'm going to thank him in a second ‑‑ the player that Jim Johnson got to do everything that he did is because of you and your love for me.  So thank you, Uncle Emmitt.  Thank you.

Then there's Jim Johnson.  The late, great Jim Johnson.  Jim, thank you.  Thank you.

Yeah.  I know Jim is looking down on us.  I know he's looking down on us.  And it's because of Jim and the way that he used me all over the field that I'm blessed to put up the numbers that I put up and blessed my teammates the way ‑‑ and blessed the city the way that I blessed it.  So, thank you, Jim.

Andy Reid, I want to thank you for believing in this smallest safety as well. 

 You trusted me to lead.  You trusted me to lead.  And, Andy, what you did also was you continued to help me out when I was trying to do too much.  Andy, you always brought me back down so that I could do my job first and then help others second.  So thank you, Andy.

But I got some of the greatness coming in me right now, the greatness in my genes I want to talk about, because there is ‑‑ I knew some of it, I didn't know all of it, but there is greatness in these genes.  There is greatness.

See, my grandmom, Altamese Dawkins, just celebrated her 100th birthday in July.  100.

And she sung a melody, a couple of songs in an opera voice, so she still has her wits.  She still has her lung capacity.  And those are wonderful things, both of those, but she is an anointed woman of God.

So, what I saw in her is what a Christian really was.  So, I saw on a daily basis who that was.  I can look to her, understand what I need to do to be something like her because I love her to death, and I thank God for her being in my life. 

Then there's my grandfather.  My grandfather, Ralph Dawkins Sr., was the first African‑American golfer to win a tournament in the state of Florida in an African‑American golf tournament.  So, there was greatness in there.

My mom.  My mom, my mom, my mom.  You want to know where the fighter in me comes from?  Yeah, that's my mom.  That's my mom.  My mom.  My mom has survived a couple of strokes.  She survived breast cancer. 

And don't let that sheepish smile fool you.  Like she's a pit bull when it's all said and done.  She looks after her family.  And she taught me this.  She said:  Brian, if you ever get in a fight, don't start it, but finish it.  And if they're bigger than you and if they're ‑‑ hold up, hold up ‑‑ and if they're bigger than you, pick up something and knock the out of them until they make ‑‑ until they come get you off of them. 

All right.  So that's why I finish everything.  If we're going to fight, we're going to fight.  You may whoop me, but we gonna fight.  They're going to have to come get me off you.  And that came from my mom.

My dad.  I thank you, Pops.  The man, the reason why ‑‑ can you see the lid that he's wearing?  I wear those type of lids, too, don't I?  That's because of that man right there.  I love him to death.  And what he blessed me with, he showed me what a man is supposed to be, how he's supposed to treat a wife, how he's supposed to be a giver, a provider.

My dad worked sometimes two and three jobs, hustle jobs, to bring the ends meet home to us.  So, Pops, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And here's the other thing my dad taught me.  When I wanted to quit in one of those painful situations in Pop Warner, my dad told me:  When you start something, you finish it.  And you don't have a bad attitude.  I better not have a coach come home talking to me you having a bad attitude.  When you fought, when you start something, you finish it. 

I think also because he paid his money, he was like, you know...

But what that did is there's a finisher in me.  There's a finisher in me that won't quit.  And those two, my mom and my dad, provided with me something that now you see in front of you.  That grit, that determination, that fire, and then that ability to never quit, to never give in came from my mom and dad.  Thank you.

My kids.  Brian Jr., I'm proud I gave you my name, brother.  I'm proud I gave you my name.  I'm proud of the young man you're becoming.  Brionni, love you.  I love the personality that you have.  I love you, sweetheart. 

The twins.  The twins.  Now, a lot of times when people say twins, they say:  Uh‑oh, double trouble.  Nope.  Uh‑oh, double blessings.  Because that's what they are to me.  Chonni and CiCi, love you, love you, love you.

And when I wanted to provide for you, I want to provide for you one of the most important things that you can have, and that's a powerful name.  So, I pray that the name that I'm going to give you will bless you to get a step up real quick in this world.

So, I'm going to continue to build this name because I'm still growing, right?  I'm still able to live my life.  But I want to let you know that I live the life that I live for them, yes, but for you first.  So, thank you.

I want to make sure I acknowledge my sister, Marian, and my brother, Ralph Dawkins Jr. ‑‑ excuse me, the third.  I'm all over the place.  The third.  Ralph, I thank you for what you showed me.  You showed me that it's possible for me to get out of Jacksonville to go to college.  And I saw that through you, and I saw that it was possible to even get to the NFL because you got there first.  So, I saw that in you, and I saw your work ethic.  And I modeled some of that stuff. 

So, some of the stupid stuff that I did was I would go and run in the heat of the day in Jacksonville, Florida, with a bag on, a trash bag on.  Now, Pat just told you I was already skinny.  Now, my brother was doing it because he was trying to, you know, slim down a little bit.  So, I saw him do it, and I did it, which was very dumb.  But all of those things I did because I saw you.  I saw you.

Now, last but not least is my beautiful bride, Connie.  The blessed ‑‑ blessed by the best once again.  The other part of me being here is because of that woman, because of Connie, because of you, because of your urging me to go see a psychiatrist to ‑‑ a psychologist to go ‑‑ to talk about my problems and be more open with you about my problems so we could talk things out.  You prayed for me.  You were there for me.  You would not let me settle. 

And for that, I want to present something to you today.  All right.  So, I have my Gold Jacket, right, but what I want to present to you, sweetheart, is something golden as well.  So, can we get that out real quick?

Yes.  Could you stand up, sweetheart?  Gonna put that gold ‑‑ that gold veil on right there.  Yeah.  Yeah.  Yeah.  That's my Hall of Fame wife right there.  Yes, sir.  That's my Hall of Fame bride right there.  Yes.

Don't settle.  Don't settle in this life.  Don't settle.  Don't allow yourself to settle.  Push through the pain.  On the other side of that pain is something special for you to go into the next level of what God has for you.

Now, see, my number is 313, right?  So, 3 I think about ‑‑ okay, the first 3 I think about the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.  That's the Trinity, right?  The second, 13, I think about my birthday, because I was born October 13, 1973. 

Now, if you add 3 plus 1 plus 3, I believe that's 7.  And so many of you believe that to be what?  The number of completion, huh?  Right?  So, this chapter of my life is completed.  It is. 

But I believe that this next chapter was going to be something special with His guidance.  And the only way I can have that thought in my head is the fact that I think and I believe that there's going to be some painful things to come.  It is.  I know it is. 

But I'm prepared for the pain.  I'm prepared to push through it.  I'm going to persevere through it with His help and His guidance.  And with that purpose and with that pain, I'm going to be able to bless so many more people with what God has put inside of me.  So, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And, finally, let's talk about these Eagles fans.

I read ‑‑ I know some of you drove all the way from Philly here.  And, listen, I have a good understanding that you don't have money just to waste.  So that means that you put hard‑earned money that you could be saving to come out here and celebrate with your boy!

So, thank you!  Thank you for loving me the way that I love you.  I love you back.  And I thank you.  Thank you for everything.

And, finally, what I want to say is:  Thank You, Heavenly Father.  Thank You, Heavenly Father, for blessing me with the sense to understand that I did not do everything by myself; that You have guided me the whole way; that I've had wonderful people around me that You placed in perfect positions to reach me; that You've orchestrated my life, even though my plans wanted to do the opposite.

You've stayed faithful to me, and You continue to push me, and You continue to pull me towards a purpose.  So, I thank You, Heavenly Father, and I can't wait ‑‑ I can't wait ‑‑ to see what You're going to do with me next.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.