Dixon Edwards

Dixon Edwards

Date of birth:	March 25, 1968 (1968-03-25)
Place of birth:	Cincinnati, Ohio
Career information
Position(s):	Linebacker
College:	Michigan State
NFL Draft:	1991 / Round: 2 / Pick: 37
Organizations
As player:
1991-1995 1996-1998 1999	Dallas Cowboys Minnesota Vikings Miami Dolphins* *Offseason member only
Playing stats at NFL.com

Dixon Voldean Edwards, III (born March 25, 1968 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League from 1991 through 1998. He played college football at Michigan State University and was drafted in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft.

Early years

Born on March 25, 1968, Edwards prepped at Aiken High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he earned all-district honors as a tight end and defensive tackle.

He attended Michigan State University, where in his first season as a starter in 1989, he finished second on the club in tackles and tied for the team lead in tackles for a loss to earn honorable mention All-American honors

As a senior he had 112 tackles, and led the Spartans with a single-game career-high 16 tackles in their upset of then-No. 1 ranked Michigan University.

During his career, he helped the Spartans to a 31-14-3 record, two Big Ten titles and four bowl games.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Edwards, was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2nd round of the 1991 NFL Draft.

He had great speed and could hit, so he was moved to strongside linebacker.

During his 4 seasons with the Cowboys, Edwards helped them win Super Bowl XXVII, Super Bowl XXVIII and Super Bowl XXX.

In the 90's, the Cowboys organization felt they could find linebackers through the draft, without the need of paying a premium and adversely impacting the salary cap, so they allowed talented and productive players like Ken Norton, Jr., Darrin Smith, Robert Jones and Randall Godfrey, to leave via free agency, instead of signing them in to long-term contracts.

In 1996, after he became a free agent, the Cowboys replaced him by signing Broderick Thomas.

Minnesota Vikings

Edwards signed with the Minnesota Vikings, where he initially was switched to weakside linebacker.

In 1996 he had the best year of his career, amassing 122 tackles, 3.5 sacks and an interception.

In 1997, he was moved back to strongside linebacker position, where his stats started to declined.

He was released after the 1998 season for salary cap reasons. In his three years with the Vikings, Edwards started 43 of the 45 games in which he played. He amassed 250 tackles, five sacks, an interception, two fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles and seven passes defensed.

Miami Dolphins

In 1999, the Miami Dolphins signed him to a one-year contract, reuniting him with Jimmy Johnson. The signing was made to add depth and experience at the outside linebacker positions, but shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat and was waived.

Edwards appeared in 120 regular season contests in his career, starting 90 of them. His NFL career statistics include 573 tackles, 7.5 sacks, two interceptions for 54 yards and a touchdown, four fumble recoveries, seven forced fumbles and 19 passes defensed. He also has contributed 50 special teams tackles

Trivia

On KTCK AM in Dallas, Dixon is a legend for an interview he did where he said the words "you know" an inordinate number of times to the point where it became unintentionally comedic.^{[citation needed]}