49ers’ Phil Dawson says he could keep kicking next year at age 41

Veteran Phil Dawson has made 16 of 17 field-goal attempts, including a long of 54 yards. He’s also one of just 12 kickers who have made all their extra-point attempts.

BY MATT BARROWS
November 27, 2015

Phil Dawson said he hasn’t spoken with the 49ers about extending his contract and that any decision about next season would have to be agreed upon by his family.

But the 40-year-old kicker knows this: He definitely has another year – or more – left in his right leg.

“As long as I feel that I can be not just good enough, but a solid contributor to the team, I want to continue playing,” said Dawson, who is due to become a free agent in March. “Still love this game, still have a passion for it.”

He’s also still very good at it. Dawson has made 16 of 17 field-goal attempts, including a long of 54 yards. His lone miss was in Week 1 when a defender shot through the 49ers’ line and blocked the attempt.

He’s also made all of his extra-point attempts, which used to be a meaningless statistic but is more notable this year after it was moved back to the 15-yard line. Only 12 kickers have made all their point-after-touchdown attempts this year; last year 26 kickers made all of their tries.

Dawson leads the team in scoring with 59 points, 42 percent of the 49ers’ NFL-low 139 points. To put that in perspective, when former 49ers kicker Joe Nedney was the team’s offensive MVP in 2005, he accounted for 40.5 percent of the team’s points.

The next-worst team in scoring, the Rams, have 179 points. The Cardinals, who play the 49ers on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, lead the league with 336 points.

Dawson said plenty of kickers compete into their 40s. The Colts’ Adam Vinatieri, 42, and the Falcons’ Matt Bryant, 40, are two active examples.

And he said he wouldn’t let age be a factor. When he reached his 30s, he had been in the league eight seasons and he started to believe the chatter that his body would start breaking down around the 10-year mark. As a result, he felt older.

But at some point Dawson decided his mid-30s malaise was in his mind, and he’s been on a roll since. After finishing with a career-low field-goal percentage of 72.4 percent for the Cleveland Browns in 2006, Dawson has finished at 80 percent or higher every year. This year’s 94.1 percent would be a career best, although the 49ers still have bad-weather games in Chicago and Cleveland.

Another reason to think he can keep kicking at age 41 – his birthday is in January – is that 21-year-old punter Bradly Pinion has taken over kickoffs.

Dawson said he wishes he still handled kickoffs because he wants to be involved as much as possible. But he understands why Pinion has the job. More than 78 percent of the rookie’s kickoffs have ended up as touchbacks.

Dawson called it a “win-win.” His body feels better than it usually does heading into December because kickoffs aren’t part of his routine. And nodding toward Pinion, who has the locker next to his, he said, “You can’t argue with how he’s been able to help the team.”

The Guru: When Gators Assistant Randy Shannon Speaks, Everyone Listens

Gators assistant coach Randy Shannon will face Florida State for the 23rd time on Saturday. (Photo: Tim Casey)

By SCOTT CARTER
November 25, 2015

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- More than 10 months have passed since the day Randy Shannon walked into a room full of reporters dressed in Gators attire, their first glimpse at the University of Miami icon in Florida’s orange and blue.

Several snapped photos on their smartphones to share on social media, as if to verify, yes, Shannon really is a Gators assistant.

In the time since his official introduction at Florida, Shannon has quietly gone about his business far from the spotlight he once occupied as head coach of the Hurricanes. Shannon was dismissed by his alma mater after the 2010 season.

He spent a year working as a TV analyst, returned to coaching in 2012 at Texas Christian, worked on Bret Bielema’s staff at Arkansas in 2013-14, and accepted an offer from first-year Gators head coach Jim McElwain to return to his native Florida in January.

Well-regarded for his character and straight-forward approach by high school coaches around the state, Shannon helped the Gators salvage a respectable recruiting class in his first month on the job, the initial sign he would make a difference in the reshaped program under McElwain.

“The one thing you have to do in recruiting is be honest,’’ Shannon said. “I try to be up front and honest with all the coaches, all the parents and all the kids. If it doesn’t fit with what we’re trying to do, I’ve got to be honest with them. I think that is the one thing that coaches respect about me.”


Gators assistant coach Randy Shannon has quietly made an impact in his first season with the Gators. (Photo: Tim Casey)

A year ago Shannon never imagined he would be at Florida.

Other than for a brief exchange with McElwain during a trip to Alabama the year he spent out of coaching, Shannon had no connection to the former Crimson Tide offensive coordinator. Their backgrounds couldn’t be more different.

Shannon grew up in Liberty City, the hardscrabble neighborhood in Miami that took a devastating toll on Shannon’s family growing up. McElwain is from Montana, where he was a two-sport standout in high school who later played at Eastern Washington.

Despite the unknowns, the 49-year-old Shannon viewed the opportunity as one that worked professionally and personally.

“I didn’t have any concerns,” he said. “One thing I’ve learned in this business is don’t have an ego, just keep working, and you can work with anybody if you have an open mind. I have an open mind about everything I do.”

As the No. 12 ranked Gators (10-1) prepare this week to face No. 14-ranked Florida State (9-2), no one on Florida’s staff can match Shannon’s history against the Seminoles. His first matchup against FSU was 30 years ago as a freshman linebacker for the Hurricanes.

Shannon was 4-0 against FSU as a player from 1985-88, helping Miami win the 1987 national championship. He spent two seasons in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys -- drafted by Jimmy Johnson, his college coach -- before returning home to join Miami’s staff as a graduate assistant in 1991, earning a second national championship ring.

In his three stints at Miami as a player, assistant coach and head coach, Shannon went 14-8 (including one bowl game) against the Seminoles over 21 seasons.

Florida linebacker Jarrad Davis, who is having a breakout season, calls Shannon the “guru.”

“It’s like he has a lot of secrets to the game,’’ Davis said. “I feel real close to Coach Shannon … just the way he approaches business every day. He knows how to specifically reach each and every one of us. That really adds something special to me. Everything he says I really pay close attention to.”

Florida’s unexpected success in McElwain’s first season has turned attention toward the staff he assembled. Shannon, who is the team’s associate head coach/co-coordinator and linebackers coach, and defensive coordinator Geoff Collins are reportedly drawing interest as potential candidates to become UCF’s next head coach.

McElwain made no secret of the importance of Shannon’s hire when he brought him on board.

“He was a guy that was at the top of my list from a standpoint of the people and how they speak about his integrity, his discipline and his organization and ball-coaching ability,” McElwain said. “This guy is a great ball coach. I feel it was an unbelievable hire to be able to get that done.”

Once Shannon got settled and evaluated the players Florida’s defense had returning, he was confident the Gators could have one of the top units in the country. The Gators have lived up to those expectations, ranked sixth nationally.

Shannon also sees the impact McElwain’s approach has made on a team that many projected to win no more than seven games.

“His swag, the way he’s handled himself, the way he’s handled this football team, he is very confident,’’ Shannon said. “His mindset is to win 15 and that’s our mindset. He’s also held guys accountable. The biggest thing he stresses is the ‘why.’ If you can give a person ‘why’ you are doing something, or the reason ‘why’ this happened, they will respect you and do everything they can for you.”

The players say Shannon has played an important role, too.

“When he talks, everybody listening, everybody in the room, including Coach Mac,’’ sophomore cornerback Jalen Tabor said. “He's meant a lot, you know not only on the field, but he's kind of a mentor for some of us guys off the field. I go talk to Coach Shannon at least once a week just for him to drop some knowledge on me.”

At his introductory press conference at UF, Shannon said he would like to be a head coach again one day. But he also said he doesn’t know when, or if, that will happen.

Like he tells his players to, Shannon keeps an open mind.

He has enjoyed the transition to Florida and the surprises that have come with a turnaround season for the program.

“It’s been great. I’m having fun,’’ he said. “Being part of something that is unique and means something at a special place like Florida, that you’ve seen do a lot of great things and continues to progress, a lot of enthusiasm every day.”

Browns give back to Greater Cleveland Food Bank

Browns players, alumni, staff spend day providing meals to those in need.

November 25, 2015

By Kyle Morrison

Browns players had the day off Monday, but they still did plenty of heavy lifting. Only instead of weights, they were hauling frozen turkeys and sacks of potatoes.

In one of the Browns First and Ten program’s biggest events of the season, a long list of Browns players and alumni came out to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank to help distribute meals leading up to the holiday season.

Dozens of players and alumni contributed to the cause – either financially or through in-person service. Those who volunteered in-person included: Johnson Bademosi, Joel Bitonio, Ibraheim Campbell, Pierre Desir, John Hughes III, Erle Ladson, Johnny Manziel, Jamie Meder, Barkevious Mingo, Austin Pasztor, Danny Shelton, Scott Solomon, Dylan Wynn and alumni Keith Baldwin, Roger Chanoine, Kevin Mack, Greg Pruitt, and Cleo Miller.

The visit was particularly meaningful for defensive tackle Jamie Meder, a Cleveland native.

“It feels great to give back to my city,” he said. “I’m part of it – I’m from Cleveland. I bleed Cleveland."

Meder and his teammates spent the day loading up vans for the food bank’s partner agencies, who will, in turn, distribute the food to those in need. Typically, those partner agents are volunteers who load up their vehicles on their own.

Not Monday, though, as they had a team of NFL players eager to haul hundreds of frozen turkeys and mountains of fresh produce.

"Having the Browns come out here today is great,” said Karen Pozna, Communications Director for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. “It’s such a busy time of year for us, any extra hands are much appreciated."

The Greater Cleveland Food Bank is a partner of First and Ten, with the two having collaborated on events like the Taste of the Browns, the First and Ten Food Drive and others. On Monday, that collaboration continued with a long list of players and dozens more team staff volunteering.

“This is just one more opportunity for us to work with them,” Pozna said. “It’s great to see such a committed organization to help fulfill a need."

With more than 800 partner agencies across six counties – and with a variety of programs – the food bank provided enough food for 45 million meals last year. Pozna said Monday’s volunteers did work that will help feed thousands across the area.

And it wasn’t just the Browns, either.

As part of the Browns youth football outreach, players from Glenville High School also participated in the event alongside the Browns players. Their camaraderie was on full display while volunteering.

“They’re obviously pretty close knit,” rookie safety Ibraheim Campbell said. “They were joking on each other, and it was cool to be around. I haven’t been around a high school team in a while."

The Browns players also flashed some chemistry during Monday’s event. Meder’s group, in particular, had a blast – whether it was Danny Shelton pretending to chomp down on an ear of corn during a photo opportunity or the guys setting out to break a speed-loading record.

“We were having a lot of fun, trying to load up as fast as we can and break whatever record we thought existed,” Meder said. “We definitely set the new record, for sure."