Doug Pensinger - Getty Images
Dawkins has been the foundation of this team for three seasons now, but is his age to big of a factor to have him return? (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
Former Eagle Brian Dawkins is among the greatest safeties of this generation, along with guys like Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu. With eight Pro Bowls and four All-Pro's under his belt, all wrapped up with a fiery leadership, his presence has made teams better for over a decade, few can deny his legacy, but does that legacy warrant his return for another season with the Broncos?
Dawkins was drafted in the 2nd round by the Philadelphia Eagles back in 1996. After 13 years with the Eagles he was let go because of the desire to get younger on defense and he was picked up by former coach Josh McDaniels in one of his best moves while here. Since coming to Denver Brian has started 39 of 48 games, made two Pro Bowls and been the foundation for the Broncos defense. But as time is passing, age is beginning to catch up with Weapon X.
After missing major time during the 2011 season, Dawkins returned to his starting role as the Broncos strong safety in 2011 despite drafting two top safeties. While many figured Dawkins role would decrease as the season went on, the opposite happened, and almost immediately the loss of Renaldo Hill was made painfully clear. As rookie Rahim Moore struggled in his role as free safety, Moore was replaced by fellow rookie Quinton Carter. With Moore's struggles and lacking depth at safety, Dawkins played the 2nd most snaps, 80.2% of total snaps, of any safety behind Carter. But as the season wore on, Dawkins started showing major signs of being injured, and backup David Bruton started to see more playing time.
Dawkins earned a base salary of $1.6 million in 2011 with a $400,000 bonus. This pay was much lower than he was scheduled to make but he re-negotiated his contract. If he were to try and stay in the league and retire, he'd have to keep a similar contract to what he made in 2011. So if he were deciding to not retire, his base salary would be around $1.5 million.
When looking at where to go looking forward we need to review Dawkins as well as options for replacements:
Pro's:
- Emotional leader of the team, both offensively and defensively, and is key to defensive pre-snap changes.
- Still a quality defender against the run, able to wrap up well and make tackles behind the line.
- Still able to get after the quarterback on safety blitz's, he had 3 sacks, 1 hit and 9 pressures last season, leading the Broncos defensive backs.
Con's:
- Is getting worse and worse with each season in pass coverage.
- While he had a better missed tackle percentage than Moore and Carter, he still ranked 8th on the Broncos, missing nearly 1 in 10 tackles.
- His health is becoming more and more an issue.
Depth at Safety:
The Broncos currently are pretty shallow in terms of talent at safety. While there are four safeties on the roster, Wilhite is better on ST's than actually as a safety or corner. That leaves Rahim Moore, Quinton Carter and David Bruton.
Free Agency Safety Class:
This isn't a real strong safety class, but there are some veteran talent around. The best part is many of the players are at a higher level, especially in pass coverage. Let's take a look at a few of the players that are a logical fit for Denver:
- Dwight Lowery (Played in Jacksonville with Del Rio and while not a top tier starter, is solid)
- Jim Leonhard (Is a great Cover 2 safety is nice coverage skill)
- Atari Bigby (Has played a great role in Seattle's defense as a role player)
If I were Denver, Bigby or Leonhard would be my choices since we already have a run stopping strong safety in Quinton Carter and let the new safety compete with Bruton and Moore for the starting position.
Conclusion:
That leaves us 2nd year player Rahim Moore and Quinton Carter as well as David Bruton. While it is far to early to give up on Rahim Moore, by the end of the season Bruton had surpassed him as the starting full safety while Quinton Carter had shifted over to strong safety. Between these three safeties we are very young and inexperienced and if losing Renaldo Hill taught us anything, it's going into the season with no veteran depth at safety will cause issues, and it showed this season. With that in mind, I believe we either need to resign Brian Dawkins or pickup a veteran like Bigby or Leonhard. Either way, going into 2012 without adding a vet would really hurt this defense.
So when it gets down to it, I would personally sign Bigby or Leonhard, but resigning Dawk might be a cheaper option if Denver doesn't want to shell out a slightly bigger contract for a younger player. Either way, a safety needs to be added, either it be Dawkins or another. The biggest issue for many fans may be separating Dawkins legacy from his recent production, which has been lackluster.
0 recs | 28 comments
Leonhard will likely start the season on PUP...
Bigby hasn’t done crap the last two seasons, including with Seattle. Good production as a role player is Wesley Woodyard numbers. THAT is good production for a role player. Not 18 tackles and 1 sack in 15 games. I wouldn’t like either of those options. Someone like Sean Jones, Matt Giordano, Dwight Lowery, Jordan Babineaux, Craig Dahl? They’d be better.
broncos7life - February 20, 2012
Worst thing an organization do is fall in love with a player...
EFX has to let Brian Dawkins go. He is a liability and the youth need to learn.
DLMyers - February 20, 2012
That's how I feel
I love Dawk, but watching him play to get ready for this article, we can do better with some FA’s like I listed.
Topher Doll - February 20, 2012
Agree completely. I've fallen in love with him and I dont wanna see him leave, even though I know it's best
broncos7life - February 20, 2012
+1
I’m with you two for sure. I love Brian, but it is time to move on honestly. He’s not able to stay on the field and he’s not the best option for us in any way in the long term.
sadaraine - February 21, 2012
Add Dawkisn to the Coaching Staff. Sign Tom Zbikowski from Baltimore.
Best we can do.
Zac Man - February 20, 2012
Would Love to see BDawk on the coaching staff!
Zbikowski would be a nice add for sure. Remember when he played for Notre Dame? I thin Quinn was the QB right. They were both captains.
timmaybronco - February 20, 2012
Can we mabey sqeeze one more season out of him ?
IMO , He is better than anything we already have ,and the current list of FAs in the above post . I am shocked that he didnt retire due to the neck injury that nagged him in the middle of the season .
broncosfaninphilly - February 20, 2012 via mobile
I hate to say it but...
I voted no. Between his health and his declining coverage skills I just feel we need some consistency from the position. I have to say…it would be tough to see him go.
broncofaninIL - February 20, 2012
When I started this article
I was 100% voting “Yes” but after watching the games and looking at FA’s, I feel we can get a veteran presence and leadership with an increase in talent. It’s sad, but it’s how it looks.
Topher Doll - February 20, 2012
For me, the biggest thing we will miss from Dawkins
is his emotional leadership.
KaptainKirk - February 20, 2012
Very true, and that's a huge part of why I'd want to keep him
But to me, we need veteran SKILL as well, and we just aren’t getting that in coverage, and we need that at the safety position. When I was looking for replacements one of the thing I kept in mind were players who had leadership characteristics.
Topher Doll - February 20, 2012
I think it all depends on whether we're looking to today or tomorrow...
If we’re thinking we can compete now, we need to say goodbye, as much as it hurts. If we’re thinking we’re still building for a future, I’d say keep him around. The in-game leadership is something our young DBs can’t get anywhere else. His onfield leadership is invaluable, but if we think we can repeat our division win and get deeper into the playoffs next season, we need younger and healthier talent in that position… IMO, we’re still a building team and I voted to keep him.
Poster_Formerly_Known_As_Royal_Fan - February 20, 2012
He’s the brains of the defense. Even if he’s lost athleticism, the difference between the defense with and without him is night and day.
If he doesn’t come back, I think the #1 pick needs to go towards a safety.
YouAreSignedIn - February 20, 2012
The issue with that is you are pretty much giving up on Moore
Who was a 2nd round pick. It’s hard to do that on that big of an investment. That’s while I’d prefer to bring in a veteran FA who is better in coverage than Dawk so we don’t see that drop off since Carter replaced Dawk in the strong safety/run stopping job. By bringing in a vet you add that experience that would be lost with Dawk and being forced to rely on a rookie or Moore/Carter.
Topher Doll - February 20, 2012
How is that giving up on Moore?
I agree. The difference in quality of defense was night and day from Bdawk on the field and from when he was off. Yea Moore may have the talent right now but without the leadership that talent goes to waste. Its the same weve been saying about leadership in our linebaching corps.
I say keep him. I dont want it to turn into another defense like after we lost Lynch.
broncs27 - February 20, 2012 via mobile
if nothing changes
giving up on Moore will be irrelevant
the new Bradfather - February 21, 2012
Elway and Dawkins...
will sit down and get it right…Pro Bowler to Pro bowler – HOFer toHOFer to be…Elway has been there when the bod wont go…Dawk will want to play…whatever the call…they will sort it out and get it right…Brian knows they need to bring in a vet [and soon] if he cant go…
Denverkewl - February 20, 2012
I voted no
The time has come where Denver, as an organization, has to stop holding onto players for their intangibles. Since Atwater, Denver has not started a safety whom they drafted. The closest had been K. Kennedy.
I don’t see Dawkins even playing eight games next year if Denver were to start him. We may not be sold on Moore, Bruton, and Moore but this is a different team. A team filled with reputable coaches on the side of ball that’s been neglected for the last 15 years – Defense.
We have a good young future around Von Miller, DJ and Dumervil. Harris, Moore and Carter will get better. Ayers and Thomas will be better. There is a player that Denver hasn’t drafted yet that will also add to the mix. If Tebow can be given the opportunity to learn his position, then in all fairness, so does every player on the Broncos as well.
dcrespo7 - February 20, 2012
I think it will be up to BDawk to do what he wants to do...
bfree2bronc - February 20, 2012
I love what Dawk has given us
and he is a mentor leader, if we can keep him in some capacity, I’d love it!
the new Bradfather - February 21, 2012
I'm with you Brad, I voted yes, but for spot duty on the field and leadership on and off.
He has loads of value besides playing. And he can still stop the run with the best of them. Spot duty on the field will keep him healthier too, hopefully. But if he’s not an asset on the field, find something somewhere in the organization for him.
azbroncomaniac - February 21, 2012
Getting old
Getting old ain’t fun but it’s a fact of life. How he lasted as long as he did is a mystery
Baghdad - February 21, 2012
Stem Cell
One day when your knee or neck goes bad they will take some dna and grow you a new neckbone or knee. Imagine the possibilities. No more need for viagra because you have a new one.
Baghdad - February 21, 2012
I voted Yes....
Dawkins is the QB of the defense and basically the field general. With him on the field… the other 10 players are better then the entire 11 when he’s not there. He’s the guy that gets the alignments straight for the LBs and makes sure the other safety has his sh*t together. We aren’t always great when he plays, but we usually are not awful. Some of the worst beating we’ve suffered were with Dawk on the sideline (Oakland in ’10, Division round against NE…)
We can pick up a talented player every single offseason, but leadership like Dawks isn’t always available. If he wants to continue to play with us, it will probably be on the cheap. I say you keep the roster spot open for him and let him play when he can. Worst case we put him on IR. We’re $50M under the cap and the guy took a pay cut last year. We can afford to risk wasting another $2-3M on him. Think of it as us paying him what we agreed to pay him last year if that makes you feel better about it.
Triz06 - February 21, 2012
No as a Player........ For Dawks Sake.
Yes as a coach or motivational speaker.
KoloradoKaos - February 21, 2012
Dawk is the kind of player
who you’re going to have to cut the pads off of with a welding torch, he loves this franchise so much and he loves all of us, so I love him back, in a completely hetero way. For fellow Bible readers, Dawk and I are like David and Johnathan!
the new Bradfather - February 21, 2012
I hope he hangs'em up for his own health and welfare
KoloradoKaos - February 22, 2012
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