Lin Dawson is a career quality starter — a tight end whose body of work places Dawson in the top quarter of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Dawson's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

TENE#0ACT

Lin Dawson

Top 24% all-time TEsReliable StarterTwo-Way Profile

Height6'3"

Weight240 lb

BornJun 24, 1959

Age67

CollegeN.C. State See College Stats

Rookie yr1981

Draft1981 · Rd 8, Pick 212 · NWE

Archetype Intelligence

Reliable StarterExplore archetypes →

A tight end with a top 30% among starters — the kind of consistent contributor every roster needs. Solid availability (excellent availability over their career) added to their value.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 91 · #1270 · High-Value

Worth 91 points of value above a freely-available replacement tight end — top 28% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 7 of 8 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +13 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

7 cleared

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+13

Avg surplus

peak +27

7 seasons × ~13 surplus ≈ VORP 91

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

2 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Receiving									Defense
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty
1981	—	NE	15	—	—	7	126	0	—	18.0	—	—	—	4	3	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1982	—	NE	8	—	—	13	160	1	—	12.3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1983	—	NE	13	—	—	9	84	1	—	9.3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1984	—	NE	16	—	—	39	427	4	—	10.9	—	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1985	—	NE	16	—	—	17	148	0	—	8.7	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1987	—	NE	12	—	—	12	81	0	—	6.8	—	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1988	—	NE	6	—	—	8	106	2	—	13.3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1989	—	NE	16	—	—	12	101	0	—	8.4	—	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
Career		—	102	—	0	117	1,233	8	—	10.5	—	—	—	7	6	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0	—	—

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	VAL
1981	22	NE	15	—	—	7	126	0	—	18.0	—	—	—	6
1982	23	NE	8	—	—	13	160	1	—	12.3	—	—	—	6.3
1983	24	NE	13	—	—	9	84	1	—	9.3	—	—	—	6.7
1984	25	NE	16	—	—	39	427	4	—	10.9	—	—	—	15.7
1985	26	NE	16	—	—	17	148	0	—	8.7	—	—	—	7.5
1987	28	NE	12	—	—	12	81	0	—	6.8	—	—	—	4
1988	29	NE	6	—	—	8	106	2	—	13.3	—	—	—	5.3
1989	30	NE	16	—	—	12	101	0	—	8.4	—	—	—	6.7
Career			102		0	117	1,233	8	—	10.5	—	—	—	58.2

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	FR	TD	Sfty
1981	22	NE	—	—	4	3	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
1984	25	NE	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
1987	28	NE	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
1989	30	NE	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
Career					7	6	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	—	—

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 60 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a well-rounded profile that scores 60 of 100, era-normalized against rec yds/g peers across 8 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 59.6 × longevity 1 = KV-H 60· confidence 97%

What builds the career mark of 58

On-field 40

Availability 18

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative rec yds/g)

1981bestavg 57elite 701989

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 8% of the all-time Receptions leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

8% of the all-time Receptions leader8

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 91%.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average tight ends aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

College Stats

N.C. StateCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (N.C. State), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

1981 Draft Class· this player went #212

#162Bobby DuckworthWR #168Louis JacksonRB #175Ron BattleTE #180Billy JacksonRB #189Pete HolohanTE #196Eric LaneRB #201Charlie BrownWR #210Wade WilsonQB #222Toussaint TylerRB #226Stump MitchellRB #241Robb RiddickRB #246Mike WilsonWR #249Hokie GajanRB #261Steve FolsomTE #262Les StuddardC #266James MurphyWR

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Lin opened the New England Patriots TE lineage the corpus knows, and handed it to Eric Sievers (1989–1990).

Lin Dawson 1981–1989Eric Sievers 1989–1990Marv Cook 1989–1993Ben Coates 1991–1999John Burke 1994–1996Lovett Purnell 1997–1998

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

1989final season
Last recorded season with NE
1981draft
Drafted by NWE — Round 8, Pick 212
1981team change
Joined NE (from NWE)

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'3" / 240 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 8-season peers. See all →

peak 62

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C+1981

B1982

C+1983

B+1984

C+1985

C+1987

C1988

C+1989

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 8 seasons.

85%

Era Translator

Rec Yds translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Rec Yds	Rec Yds/G	→ 2025 Rec Yds	→ 2025 /G
1981	126	8.4	340+214	20
1982	160	20	581+421	34.2
1983	84	6.5	337+253	19.8
1984	427	26.7	713+286	42
1985	148	9.3	356+208	20.9
1987	81	6.8	315+234	18.5
1988	106	17.7	538+432	31.6
1989	101	6.3	313+212	18.4

Data: nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:players, wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (facts-only reference), nfl.com:official-stats (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

91 career value over replacement — #1270 all-time of 4,642. 11.4/season above a replacement-level TE.

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #212 (Rd 8) · NWE · 1981 · +36.1 vs expected KV-H

60actual

23.9 expected · Δ+36.1

Fan Rating

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Compare Lin Dawson vs Player Report data error

Lin Dawson

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Receiving

Defense

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1981 Draft Class· this player went #212

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography