Michael Jerome Irvin (born March 5, 1966) is an American sports commentator and former professional football player. He played as a wide receiver for 12 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007.
Irvin played college football for the Miami Hurricanes and was selected in the first round of the 1988 NFL draft by the Cowboys. He played for the Cowboys from 1988 to 1999 before sustaining a cervical fracture of his spine in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles, in which he was carted off the field and transported to a Philadelphia hospital, forcing him to retire.
Irvin was nicknamed "the Playmaker" due to his penchant for making big plays in big games during his college and pro careers. Along with Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, Irvin was one of three key Cowboys offensive players known as "The Triplets", who led the Cowboys to three Super Bowl wins in 1992, 1993, and 1995.
Irvin is a former broadcaster for ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown and currently an analyst for NFL Network. In 2009, he competed in Season 9 of Dancing with the Stars and was the season's ninth contestant to be eliminated. He was one of the co-hosts of the FS1 weekday debate show Speak with Paul Pierce, Keyshawn Johnson, and Joy Taylor.
Early life Irvin was born March 5, 1966, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is the 15th of 17 children in his family. Irvin first attended Piper High School in Sunrise, Florida, and then went on to become a football star at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale.
While at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Irvin was heavily recruited by the University of Miami to play for the Miami Hurricanes.
College career
At the University of Miami under coach Jimmy Johnson, Irvin set school records for the Miami Hurricanes for career receptions (143), receiving yards (2,423 and later broken by Santana Moss), and touchdown receptions (26). He was a member of the University of Miami's 1987 national championship team and made one of the most legendary plays in school history that year, scoring on a 73-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Steve Walsh that provided the margin of victory in Miami's victory over archrival Florida State, which propelled them into the national championship game, the 1988 Orange Bowl, against the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.
Irvin was selected three times as an All-American by the Newspaper Enterprise Association, earning second-team honors as a freshman, first-team as a sophomore, and second-team again as a junior.
In 1988, following his junior year at the University of Miami, Irvin announced he was skipping his final year of college eligibility and declaring his eligibility for the 1988 NFL draft.
Professional career Irvin was selected by the Dallas Cowboys as the 11th pick in the first round of the 1988 NFL draft. He was the last first-round draft pick made by the Cowboys under the leadership of long-time general manager Tex Schramm, player personnel director Gil Brandt, and head coach Tom Landry. Schramm predicted that Irvin would accelerate the Cowboys' "return to the living".
1988 season As a rookie in the 1988 season, Irvin became the first rookie receiver in Cowboys' history to start a season opener in 20 years. In the opening game of his rookie season against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium on September 3, 1988, Irvin caught his first NFL career touchdown. He also caught three touchdown passes in the Cowboys' win over the Washington Redskins on December 11, 1988, at RFK Stadium, which represented one of only three wins in the Cowboys' 3–13 1988 season, which was the final season of Landry's career. For the season, Irvin led the NFC in average yards per catch with a 20.4 yard average per catch.
1989 and 1990 seasons In 1989, the Cowboys hired Jimmy Johnson, Irvin's coach at the University of Miami, to replace Landry. The Cowboys' misfortunes continued in 1989, and they finished the season with a 1–15 record, the worst season record in Cowboys franchise history. Injuries limited Irvin to only six games during the season. He had been on pace to gain over 1,000 receiving yards until tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a game against the San Francisco 49ers on October 15, 1989, after which he was placed on the injured reserve list for the rest of the 1989 season and the first three games of the 1990 season.
In 1990, Irvin did not register his first reception until the seventh game and finished the season with just 20 receptions for 413 yards, but also averaged 20.7 yards per catch.
Before the injury, Irvin was almost traded to the Los Angeles Raiders to help bring talent to the Cowboys and potentially pair him up with Tim Brown, but Raiders owner Al Davis essentially talked Johnson out of the trade by saying, "You sure you want to do that? Who is going to catch passes for you?" Johnson instead traded Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings in what would come to be known as the Herschel Walker trade. One factor in Irvin almost being traded was that then-offensive coordinator David Shula thought Irvin was slow and not a team player. When the Cowboys fired Shula and replaced him with Norv Turner, the notion of trading Irvin became nonexistent in part because Turner believed Irvin would become a superstar in his system.
1991 season In 1991, Irvin was a major factor in the Cowboys reaching the playoffs. He finished the season with 93 receptions (second in the NFL for the season), 1,523 receiving yards (first in the NFL for the season), eight receiving touchdowns, and set a Cowboys franchise record with seven 100-yard games. Irvin was named to the 1991 Pro Bowl, the first of five consecutive seasons in which he was selected to Pro Bowls.
1992 and 1993 seasons
In 1992 and 1993, Irvin was a key player on the Cowboys' Super Bowl teams. In 1994, he enjoyed another stellar campaign with his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl season, but that year the Cowboys lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. For his part, however, Irvin had one of the most productive games in NFL playoff history, with 12 catches for an NFC championship record 192 yards and two touchdowns.
One of his greatest performances was in Super Bowl XXVII (1993), where he caught six passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns against the Buffalo Bills. His two touchdowns were scored in the second quarter and occurred in a span of just 18 seconds, the fastest pair of touchdowns ever scored by one player in Super Bowl history. He also became only the second player ever to score 2 touchdowns in one quarter of a Super Bowl, after Washington Redskins wide receiver Ricky Sanders in Super Bowl XXII.
1995 season Irvin's best season with the Cowboys was 1995 during which he set franchise records for receptions (111) and receiving yards (1,603) while scoring 10 touchdowns and setting an NFL record with 11 games with over 100 receiving yards. Irvin had seven receptions for 100 yards and two touchdowns against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game, which led the Cowboys to Super Bowl XXX, the team's third Super Bowl win in a span of four seasons. In the Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he had five receptions for 76 yards.
Irvin is the only player to play for each of the first four Cowboys coaches since the team has been owned by Jerry Jones (Landry, Johnson, Barry Switzer, and Chan Gailey). Irvin officially announced his retirement after Dave Campo became the fifth Cowboys coach, but never played on the field for Campo.
1999 season On October 10, 1999, during the fifth game of the 1999 season, Irvin was tackled by Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Tim Hauck and was driven head-first into the turf at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. He sustained a non-life-threatening cervical spine injury, but was carted off the field and transported to the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Irvin did not play again that season. Doctors subsequently discovered Irvin had been born with cervical spinal stenosis, and told him that this condition put him at higher risk for injury, including paralysis, if he suffered another blow to the neck or head. After being advised to stop playing football, Irvin announced his retirement in May 2000.
Irvin was the last Tom Landry-coached player to retire from the NFL. Landry died on February 12, 2000, several months after Irvin's injury in Philadelphia but before Irvin had announced that he was retiring due to the severity of that injury.
Legacy At 6'2" and 207 pounds, Irvin was a big, physical receiver who manhandled cornerbacks and often was able to make tough catches in defensive traffic. In part because of Irvin's ability to push off the defender with such ease, the NFL eventually changed its rules to adjust to wide receivers who emulated Irvin's physical style.
Irvin was a vocal, emotional leader who set every significant career receiving mark in Cowboys history, including catches and receiving yards. At the time of his retirement, he owned or was tied for 20 team receiving records. In November 2008, his Cowboys teammate Daryl Johnston said, "Michael was the hardest working guy on our team. He was a guy who made some wrong decisions, but he never took anything public, and he never spoke out against anyone on our team. He wasn't a problem. He was more of an inspiration."
Irvin has high regard for players from "The U", as he likes to call the University of Miami, including Frank Gore, Edgerrin James, and others.
Career statistics
NFL Legend Won the Super Bowl Led the league Bold Career high
Year Team Games Receiving Rushing GP GS Rec Yds Avg Lng TD Att Yds Avg Lng TD 1988 DAL 14 10 32 654 20.4 61 5 1 2 2.0 2 0 1989 DAL 6 6 26 378 14.5 65 2 1 6 6.0 6 0 1990 DAL 12 7 20 413 20.7 61 5 0 0 0.0 0 0 1991 DAL 16 16 93 1,523 16.4 66 8 0 0 0.0 0 0 1992 DAL 16 14 78 1,396 17.9 87 7 1 -9 -9.0 -9 0 1993 DAL 16 16 88 1,330 15.1 61 7 2 6 3.0 9 0 1994 DAL 16 16 79 1,241 15.7 65 6 0 0 0.0 0 0 1995 DAL 16 16 111 1,603 14.4 50 10 0 0 0.0 0 0 1996 DAL 11 11 64 962 15.0 61 2 0 0 0.0 0 0 1997 DAL 16 16 75 1,180 15.7 55 9 0 0 0.0 0 0 1998 DAL 16 15 74 1,057 14.3 51 1 1 1 1.0 1 0 1999 DAL 4 4 10 167 16.7 37 3 0 0 0.0 0 0Career 159 147 750 11,904 15.9 87 65 6 6 1.0 9 0
College 1985: 46 catches for 840 yards and 9 TD. 1986: 53 catches for 868 yards and 11 TD. 1987: 44 catches for 715 yards and 6 TD. 2 carries for 4 yards.
Records and honors
University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame In 2000, Irvin was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame.
NFL records Irvin finished his career with 750 receptions (tied with Charlie Joiner for 30th all-time in the NFL) for 11,904 yards (21st all-time in the NFL) and 65 touchdowns. His 47 100-yard receiving games is eighth-most in NFL history, tied with Torry Holt. Irvin was selected to five Pro Bowls (two more than any other wide receiver in franchise history) and was named the MVP of the 1992 Pro Bowl (following the 1991 season) after catching eight passes for 125 yards and a touchdown in the NFC's 21–15 triumph. Irvin was a key playmaker for the Dallas Cowboys that won 6 division titles and three Super Bowls.
As part of Dallas' starting lineup on offense, Irvin was a consistent force to be reckoned with in the regular season but also excelled in the playoffs, where his six career 100-yard receiving games are just two shy of the NFL record held by Jerry Rice, who had eight such games. Irvin's 87 postseason receptions place him second in NFL playoff history behind Rice, who had 151, and Irvin's 1,315 post-season receiving yards ranks second to Rice, who recorded 2,245 post-season yards.