‘09 Eagles UFA: FS Brian Dawkins

Brian Dawkins has two do two more things in the NFL: 1) Win a Super Bowl 2) Suplex Eli Manning

Brian Dawkins is one of the most beloved Eagle of all time, but he enters the 2009 safety without a contract.  Both sides want to get something done that ensures Dawkins retires an Eagle, but so far there hasn’t been much news on the Dawkins front.

2008 Recap

• Dawkins had an up and down season in 2008.  In week two in Dallas it looked like Dawkins had lost a step and might not have a whole lot left in the tank.  A week later at home against the Steelers, Dawkins played like a man possessed and sealed a win over the eventual champs with an acrobatic forced fumble on Big Ben.
• From that point on, Dawkins was playing like he 25 years old, not 35, and his season ended up with a another trip to the Pro Bowl.
• Dawkins ended the season with an interception and 3 sacks – the second highest sack total of his career.  With those 3 sacks, Dawkins joined an elite group of NFL players to have 30 interceptions and 20 sacks in a career.
• For just the third time in his career, Dawkins only recorded a single interception.
• Dawkins played in all 16 games in 2008 after missing 6 games in 2007.

2009 Outlook

• Dawkins still has some gas left in the tank.
• He might not have the range he once had, but teams still know if the attack Dawkins, they risk getting their receivers LIT up if their quarterback isn’t on target.
• Weapon-X can still deliver the knock out hit and showed in 2008 that he  doesn’t play as old as his age.  Jim Johnson seemed to use Dawkins more for blitzing this year and I think we’ll see Dawkins used in that capacity even more next year.
• I don’t know if Dawkins has another Pro Bowl season in him, but he definitely has at least one more year of being one of the top safeties in the NFL left in him in 2009.

Will He Be a Bird?

• He damn well better be.
• Brian Dawkins is an Eagle through and through.  There have been very few players to strap on the green winged helmet who have exemplified what it is to be a member of the Philadelphia Eagles as much as BDawk.
• For the past 13 years, Dawkins has been the heart and soul of the Eagles defense and that shouldn’t change in 2009.
• What Dawkins brings the Eagles can’t be measured in a stat sheet.   He is the unquestioned emotional leader of the team and his intensity is easily worth an extra win or two a season – even if his 40 time might have lost a tenth of a second  over the past few seasons.
• There just isn’t any way the Eagles FO can let Dawkins end his career anywhere else but Philadelphia.
• He’s already said that he wants to be back, the FO wants him back, and it’s pretty much assumed Dawkins won’t be looking to breaking the bank.  Dawk has also said he would like to take things year to year at this point since he will be 36 years young during the ’09 season.