Thread: On a positive note: Dawkins

Is anyone, besides me, really excited this guy was signed today? He will be the cornerstone for bringing swagger back to our D. The leadership he brings to the table is second to none. And right now, thats the very thing we need. This team is lacking leadership in a big way and I couldn't be happier with this signing. We couldn't have signed a better player for this team.

Go Broncos!


Little video for yall to get excited about..

No I was quite pleased with this as well. Older or not, the guy is a great pro. Very respectful and honorable. Maybe he can rub off on McDaniels.

Even if he's getting up in years he'll still bring that Lynch kind of leadership.

Originally Posted by Broncogator

Even if he's getting up in years he'll still bring that Lynch kind of leadership.

I'm just glad we finally have a difference maker in the defensive backfield. We haven't had one of those since Atwater.

It'll be good. The guy is older though....

Love Dawkins' toughness and leadership, something sorely lacking on last years "unit", I refuse to call that thing a defense.

I made this for everyone:



Shit, it's weapon X LMAO

Congrats on your first post about the Broncos in 2400+ attempts, West.

I agree - Dawkins is a fine start on adding some leaders back onto the team. Even as a 2-3 year attempt at solving the problem (he's not earning those last 2 contract years) it's good. And it gives Barrett and any potential draft-pick a great example to learn from. Manuel and McCree were not it.

Replacing the position both on the field and in the locker room that Lynch occupied is a smart thing. And Dawkins can still play. He's a little long in the tooth, but we should still get the money out of the first couple of years of the contract.

~G

"I've worn this orange before, with Clemson. I will wear this orange with pride and hold it up high."

If he played like last year...you guys will be in good shape

I stopped reading this thread when I got to the cheerleader animation. I hovered there for five minutes.

An emotional interview with Dawkins and local Philly station: http://csnphilly.com/pages/player?is...2&af=3&dord=mr

I like this, as has been said, one thing that was sorely missing last year was leadership.

IIRC, one of the write-ups I saw on Davis also suggested his orginisational & leadership was pretty good as well

http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_11810504

Brian Dawkins walked into Broncos headquarters Saturday morning and there it was, just lying on the table.

An orange No. 20 jersey, with "Dawkins" already stitched across the back in bold, white letters.

Sure, he already had flown to Denver, interviewed with Broncos coach Josh McDaniels, attended a Nuggets game and hammered out the details on a five-year contract worth $17 million. But it wasn't until he saw that jersey that it hit him: For the first time in his lengthy NFL career, Dawkins no longer was a Philadelphia Eagle.

McDaniels and the Broncos landed Dawkins, a seven-time Pro Bowler who spent all of his 13-year career in Philadelphia, by convincing Dawkins this is not a rebuilding situation in Denver.


"(McDaniels was) very enthusiastic about what the vision was, what the vision is for this team. Not winning later, not building something, but starting and winning right away," Dawkins said. "I bought into it. I drunk the Kool-Aid, the orange Kool-Aid. I drunk it. I feel the same way."

Dawkins, 35, likely is in the final stage of his career, but he still provides the Broncos a substantial upgrade at safety, one of the weakest positions on the team in 2008.

Dawkins was the NFC's defensive player of the month in December while helping the Eagles to the playoffs for the eighth time in his career, and he made 27 total tackles and had one sack in three postseason games. He has a career total of 34 interceptions, though he has only two in the last two seasons.

"He's exactly what the Denver Broncos are looking for," McDaniels said. "He wants to come to a place where he can win, and some place that wants him as much as he wants them."

Dawkins said he felt the Eagles wanted to keep him, but the two sides were unable to agree on a contract that would have allowed Dawkins to end his career in Philadelphia before the start of free agency. That left Dawkins to test the market for the first time ever.

Dawkins was immediately taken with McDaniels. It didn't hurt, either, that the Broncos' financial offer was far more substantial than what the Eagles had wanted to pay.

"Here with the Broncos, I wasn't just a want," Dawkins said. "They felt like I was a necessity, and they made it clear with what they offered me right off the bat."

Dawkins' departure came as a shock in Philadelphia, where he had been the longest-tenured professional athlete in the city. In 2008, he played in his 183rd game, more than any other Eagle in history.

He also was beloved by Philadelphia fans for his work in the community and was the unquestioned leader in the Eagles' locker room.

"I don't know if you can get a finer player," said former Eagles linebacker Ike Reese, who played with Dawkins from 1998-2004. "A player who will give you everything on the field, off the field, a guy that can hold a locker room together in troubling times. An all-around model professional."

Dawkins promised Saturday to do those same things in Denver, for a defense that will have at least seven new starters in 2009.

"This is not going to just be a job for us," Dawkins said. "We're all going to be in this thing together, and not just be a pretty good defense, but be a dominant one."

And he will do it while wearing orange.