13 incredible stats from Brian Dawkins' unique career

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Brian Dawkins was one of the greatest players in NFL history and also one of the most unique.

This weekend in Canton, Ohio, he’ll become only the ninth pure safety in NFL history to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and only the seventh player who spent most of his career with the Eagles to become a Hall of Famer.

Did you know Dawk is the only player in NFL history with 25 interceptions, 25 sacks and 25 forced fumbles?

Here are 13 more Dawkins stats — one for every year he spent with the Eagles!

1. Dawkins made nine Pro Bowl teams. The only pure safety in NFL history to make more is Ken Houston, who was named to 12 Pro Bowl teams in a row for the Oilers and Redskins from 1968 through 1979. Mel Renfro of the Cowboys went to 10 but only six as a safety. Ronnie Lott of the 49ers and Raiders made 10 Pro Bowls but only five as a safety. And Rod Woodson was an 11-time Pro Bowler for the Steelers, Ravens and Raiders but only the last four as a safety. 

2. Including his days with the Broncos, Dawkins started 221 regular-season games at safety. In NFL history, only Eugene Robinson (232) started more. If you include playoff games, Robinson started 243 to Dawk’s 239.

3. Dawk had an interception in 15 consecutive seasons (from 1996 through 2010). Only Darrell Green (19), Charles Woodson (18) and Willie Brown and Robinson (16 each) have had longer streaks in NFL history. Dawk had 11 seasons with at least one interception and one sack. Only Ronde Barber and Ray Lewis (13 each) had more.

4. Dawk’s 26 career sacks are third most in NFL history by a defensive back, behind only Rodney Harrison (30½) and Barber (28).

5. Dawkins is one of only four players in NFL history with 25 sacks and 25 interceptions. The others are Barber, Harrison and Adrian Wilson.

6. Dawkins started 182 games in an Eagles uniform, 16 more than second-place Chuck Bednarik. That means Dawk started an entire season more than any other Eagle. 

7. In 1997, Dawkins played 14 games alongside longtime Bears defensive end Richard Dent, who became a Hall of Famer in 2011. That’s the only time in franchise history the Eagles had two future Hall of Famers on the same defense.

8. Since he was drafted in 1996, Dawkins has started almost three times as many games as any other Eagles safety. Dawk started 200 games. Next most over the last 22 years? Would you believe Nate Allen with 70 starts?

9. Nobody in Eagles history played in more postseason victories than Dawkins, who was on the field for all 10 of the Eagles’ postseason wins under Andy Reid. David Akers, Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan also played in all 10.

10. Dawk made his last Pro Bowl as an Eagle in 2008 at the age of 35. That made him the oldest Eagles position player to make a Pro Bowl in the last 50 years. The only older Pro Bowl non-kicker in Eagles history is Hall of Fame center Jim Ringo, who made his 10th Pro Bowl at the age of 36 in 1967, his final season in the NFL. Dawk made his final Pro Bowl at the age of 38 with Denver in 2011, his final season. At the time, that made him the oldest defensive Pro Bowler in NFL history. Charles Woodson supplanted him when he was a Pro Bowler in 2015 with the Raiders at 39.

11. In 2001, Dawkins had a 57-yard TD catch from Brian Mitchell on a fake punt. That was longer than the longest reception that entire year by either Eagles starting wide receiver.

12. Dawk’s 35-yard interception return off Brett Favre in the Eagles’ 2003 playoff win over the Packers — the 4th-and-26 game — is the second-longest overtime interception return in NFL history. The longest was by Packers cornerback Al Harris, who had a 52-yard TD off Matt Hasselbeck one week earlier. Harris and Dawkins were teammates with the Eagles from 1998 through 2002.

13. Dawkins intercepted 20 different quarterbacks in his career — Favre, Michael Vick and Eli Manning three times each, Tony Romo, Tony Banks, Peyton Manning and Jake Plummer twice each, and 13 QBs once each.

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