Brian Dawkins dishes on Von Miller, Philly vs. Denver and where Broncos go from here

When Von Miller cried, Brian Dawkins understood the flavor of people tears. Rare is the NFL legend who gets to compose his final chapter. Male programs. God laughs.

“Oh, they are heading to skip him,” Dawkins, the NFL Hall of Famer and former Broncos and Philadelphia protection, said of looking at the Vonster in Rams gold.

“But it is heading to be vital for them to transfer on, and focus on what they want to do to have achievement devoid of him. It is heading to be tricky. Men have to action up. When a person leaves, the option opens up for anyone to action up into that location.”

The Eagles are rolling into Mile Higher for the initially time considering the fact that 2013, which would make 7 days ten a a lot more personalized 1 for Dawkins, a.k.a. “Weapon X,” the enforcer who did 13 decades of damage in the city of Brotherly Appreciate just before shelling out his final a few seasons with the Broncos.

“To me, the Broncos know a lot more of who they are a little bit a lot more than the Eagles do,” Dawkins said of Sunday’s Denver-Philly matchup at Empower Field. “At this stage, you actually never know what you’re heading to get with the Eagles every single week. They are basically the epitome of a team escalating up, and you basically just never know what you’re heading to get every single week.

“Are the coaches heading to run the ball? Are they not heading to run the ball? Are they heading to blitz? Are they not heading to blitz? You never know what you’re heading to get from that team.”

And ain’t it amusing how time flies? It is been ten decades considering the fact that Dawkins’ final year in the Broncos secondary, a 2011 year marked by TebowMania, the arrival of coach John Fox, and 1 of the strangest AFC West titles — a division crowned with an eight-eight report and clinched by tiebreakers — in Denver lore.

“I’m not a person which is jovial after a reduction,” said Dawkins, now forty eight and whose new biography, “Blessed By The Finest: My Journey to Canton And Outside of,” reflects the challenging-hitting defender’s road to the NFL, his battles with melancholy, his faith, and his spiritual bedrock by way of excellent periods and bad.

“When you’re a competitor, you hate to lose, appropriate? So my way of managing it was to be peaceful, be respectful of other men who have been it’s possible sensation worse than I (was). That was not automatically the atmosphere (with the Broncos), I will say it like that. It was unique.”

The new tome, like his career, is a lot more Eagles-centric. But Dawkins’ reach proceeds to be felt right here, in Philly and in his hometown of Jacksonville, Fla., by way of his Effects Foundation, which is slated to receive 50 % of the book’s net proceeds.

“I never want to criticize (Denver),” he laughed. “The (fans right here) are just unique, I guess. There is a dark facet (in Philly). I never know how to say it. Both of those admirer bases are very intelligent when it will come to soccer. But it is that dark facet with (the Eagles fans), which is what I was made use of to.”

Dawkins was named to the Pro Bowl in two of his a few decades in Broncos orange, which include 2011. A person of the other brilliant lights on that Denver protection was a rookie outside the house linebacker out of Texas A&M, a initially-spherical decide with a superior motor and an infectious character.

“The achievement he’s had doesn’t shock me from what I noticed of Von’s rookie year,” Dawkins said of the Broncos icon, who was traded to the Rams last week for two 2022 draft picks. “I’m not the only 1 that noticed that in him.”

He also feels Miller’s discomfort appropriate now. Inspite of a lot more than a ten years of assistance, Dawkins felt disrespected and unwelcome by Eagles administration after the 2008 year, inevitably agreeing to a 5-year deal with the Broncos value $17 million, $7.two million assured.