Higher Ground - Dawkins may be bound for Canton

Intelligencer, The (Doylestown, PA) - Sunday, August 6, 2006 CANTON , Ohio -- Jeff Lurie pulled Brian Dawkins aside Tuesday morning at training camp and told him how excited he was to make his first visit to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. "I told Brian this would be my first trip to Canton and that I think my second trip will be when you get inducted," Lurie said. "I truly believe that." Saturday morning, Lurie brought Dawkins and seven of his teammates on his private jet to Canton to represent the Eagles at Reggie White's induction into the Hall of Fame. Dawkins missed White by four years with the Eagles, but they grew close before White died in December of 2004, and maybe one day they'll be teammates right here at the birthplace of football. They share a common bond of spirituality, a common bond as emotional and physical leaders of dominating Eagles defenses, a common bond as elite players whose Hall of Fame dreams became realistic goals. White, the most dominating defensive end in modern football history, was inducted into the Hall of Fame 14 years Saturday after he last played his last snap with the Eagles. Dawkins is beginning his 11th season with the Eagles, and with each passing season he looks more and more like a legitimate candidate to one day be enshrined forever in Canton as one of the greatest to play the game. "I don't think about it a lot, but I think about it," Dawkins said. "It's something I would love to cap my career with when it ends, whenever that time comes, five or six years down the road." Dawkins is already one of only six players and four safeties in NFL history with at least 28 interceptions and 17 sacks. Despite spending most of his career closer to the line of scrimmage than center field, he's only six interceptions shy of the franchise record of 34, shared by

Eric Allen and Bill Bradley. His 17 sacks are ninth in NFL history among defensive backs. And Dawkins has played on very good teams most of his career, reaching the playoffs six times in 10 seasons and a Super Bowl two years ago. He's been a brilliant postseason player, with four playoff interceptions, two forced fumbles and a sack. It's tough for pure safeties to find their way into the Hall of Fame. AllPros like Dennis Smith, Joey Browner, and Deron Cherry haven't made it. Ronnie Lott went in, but he played a lot of cornerback. The only pure safeties enshrined in Canton are Jack Christiansen, Ken Houston, Paul Krause, Yale Lary, Emlen Tunnell, Larry Wilson and Willie Wood -- all of whom began their career in 1967 or earlier. "Safety is a different position than it used to be," Dawkins said. "We're not just out there roaming around, making sure nobody gets behind us, and picking off a bunch of passes. They ask safeties to do a lot more these days and the (interception) numbers aren't going to be as high, and I think that has a lot to do with why they don't put that many safeties in anymore." Dawkins , 32, needs to continue his exceptional level of play several more years to become a serious candidate when the panel of sports writers considers his merits five years after he retires. He's not signed beyond this year, but Lurie reiterated Saturday his desire to re-sign Dawkins and make sure that, unlike White, he finishes his career as an Eagle. "I really think he has a chance if he can keep playing at a high level -which I think he can," defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said at Lehigh on Friday. "He's as good a safety as I've ever been around. "You look at production, and he's been very productive. You look at playing on successful teams, and he's played on a lot of very good teams. You look at longevity and he's got that. I don't know what else the guy has to do." Dawkins has averaged about two sacks and three interceptions per season since Ray Rhodes drafted him in the second round in 1996. If he can continue at that pace for five more years, he'd have 27 sacks and 43 interceptions and it might be impossible to keep him out.

"If I retired now, I don't think I've done enough to make it in," Dawkins said. "The production isn't there to be considered one of the best ever. "But I still have a lot of years left. I still have a lot left in the tank. I know I can still play this game at a very high level. I'm not quite done yet."