Not bad for a kicker who was told “we are going to start with you” and felt he was going to get cut after just one missed field goal.
Former Cleveland Browns kicker Phil Dawson signed a one-day contract with the team and announced his retirement from the National Football League Friday after a 21-year career that spanned the early years of the expansion-era Browns, as well as stints with the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers.
“That one sentence I think shaped my mentality more than any other,” Dawson said in a press conference at team headquarters Friday. “Some coaches would say that was the point of it all. I would say that mainly, it was an obstacle.
“Coach Palmer comes walking down the hallway and literally just says, ‘We are going to start out with you.’ Whatever he meant by that, I am not exactly sure, but the way I took it was I am one kick away from losing my job. I do not know that I ever shook that my entire career of 21 years later. I would miss one kick and I would think, ‘That is it. I am out of a job.’”
The Browns did more than just start the expansion era with Dawson as the placekicker, as he became one of the most beloved players among fans, teammates and former players who have not always welcomed kickers into their fraternity.
Signed by the expansion Browns in 1999, Dawson won the kicking job out of training camp that season and went on to become the most prolific kicker in franchise history, as he converted a team record 305 field goal attempts.
In 2012, his final season with the Browns, Dawson converted 28 of his 29 field-goal attempts and extended his career-best 29 consecutive field goals streak into a franchise record. Of those 28 conversions, six were from at least 50 yards.
Over the 2011 and 2012 seasons with the Browns, Dawson was among the NFL's best with 13 field goals of at least 50 yards. His 84.2 field goal percentage was the best all-time among kickers with at least 300 made field goals.
In addition to the 305 field goals, Dawson holds franchise records for career field goal percentage (84.0), most field goals in a season (30 in 2008), highest field goal percentage in a season (93.5 in 2012), field goals in a game (six on November 5, 2006), most consecutive field goals made (29) and most consecutive games with a field goal (23).
Dawson totaled 1,271 points in his career with the Browns, second-most in franchise history, and his 215 games are the third-most ever in Cleveland. Dawson is the only kicker in franchise history to be selected to the Pro Bowl, as Lou Groza made the all-star squad as a tackle.
Dawson will walk away from the game ranked in the top 20 in NFL history in games played (seventh with 305), field goals made (eighth with 441), points scored (11th with 1,847) and field goal percentage (16th with 83.8).
“I would argue it got in the way of what I wanted to do, but when you are an undrafted kid coming into this league, it doesn’t matter what your path is like,” Dawson said. “That was something that happened. I had to deal with it, and I think I made the most of it.”
