Brian Dawkins – FS – Clemson
1996 Draft / 2nd Round / Philadelphia Eagles
It’s a 1996 draft redux! This time we’re turning our focus to Brian Dawkins who is arguably one of the hardest hitting safeties in league history. A six time Pro Bowler, Dawkins has rewarded the Eagles for selecting him in the second round of the 1996 draft by a turning in a solid eleven year career with the team. During this time he has logged 167 games, 677 solo tackles, 33 interceptions and four defensive touchdowns.
Ranking third all time on the Eagles career interception list, Dawkins is also the first player to record a sack, an interception, a fumble recovery and a touchdown reception all in a single game. At the end of the 2007 season Dawkins found himself only two sacks short of becoming the 10th member of the 20/20 club.
Before attaining stardom in the NFL Dawkins starred at strong safety for the Clemson Tigers. He finished his college career with 247 tackles and 11 interceptions, six of which came during his senior season. Additionally, Dawkins was named to Clemson’s all centennial team as the first team strong safety in 1995.
Dawkins was the 11th defensive back selected in the 1996 draft and was one of five that were drafted as safeties. The most notable alumni of the safeties in his class are Jerome Woods (Memphis, 1st, 28th overall), Lawyer Milloy (Washington, 2nd, 36th overall) and Reggie Tongue (Oregon State, 2nd, 58th overall). Woods and Dawkins were among the few in their class to have played their entire career with the team that drafted them while Milloy joins Dawkins as one of the few that are still active in the league.
Woods and Tongue certainly had decent NFL careers, still it is clear that if given a chance to pick again those teams surely would have gone for Dawkins instead. Even New England, who selected Milloy towards the top of the second round, should have seriously considered the Clemson product over him. A key player in the Patriots Super Bowl XXXVI win, Milloy was unceremoniously released by the team a year later over a contract dispute. He has since bounced from Buffalo to Atlanta and is at risk of losing his spot on the roster as the Falcons being their wholesale renovation. It is very realistic that based on his NFL performance that Dawkins could have improved his draft status by nearly an entire round.
For a table of all of the players selected at his position in this draft click here.
Statistics courtesy of nfl.com.
