Tim Dwight

Dwight in aBoeing C-17 Globemaster III atMacDill Air Force Base in 2001
No. 17, 83, 85, 86, 87
Position	Wide receiver
Personal information
Born	(1975-07-13)July 13, 1975 (age 50) Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High school	Iowa City[1]
College	Iowa
NFL draft	1998: 4th round, 114th overall pick
Career history
Atlanta Falcons (1998–2000) San Diego Chargers (2001–2004) New England Patriots (2005) New York Jets (2006) Oakland Raiders (2007)
Awards and highlights
PFWA All-Rookie Team (1998) ConsensusAll-American (1997) First-team All-American (1996) First-teamAll-Big Ten (1997) Second-team All-Big Ten (1996)
Career NFL statistics
Receptions 194 Receiving yards 2,964 Rushing attempts 53 Rushing yards 380 Return yards 6,526 Total touchdowns 27 Stats atPro Football Reference

Timothy John Dwight Jr. (born July 13, 1975) is an American former professionalfootball player who was awide receiver andreturn specialist for 10 seasons in theNational Football League (NFL). He playedcollege football for theIowa Hawkeyes, and was a two-timeAll-American. He was selected by theAtlanta Falcons in the fourth round of the1998 NFL draft, and he played professionally for the Falcons,San Diego Chargers,New England Patriots,New York Jets andOakland Raiders of the NFL.

Dwight is remembered for his 94-yard touchdown return on a kickoff inSuper Bowl XXXIII against theDenver Broncos.

Dwight attended the University of Iowa, where he played for theIowa Hawkeyes football team. He finished his college career withBig Ten Conference records for punt return yardage (1,102) and punts returned fortouchdowns (5); his yardage mark has since been eclipsed by three others andTed Ginn Jr. surpassed his return touchdown mark. Dwight held the Hawkeyes team record for career receiving touchdowns (21) until 2011, when his mark was surpassed byMarvin McNutt. He held the team record for career receiving yards (2,271) until 2010 whenDerrell Johnson-Koulianos became the all-time leader in receiving yards. In 1997, Dwight was aconsensus first-team All-American and finished seventh in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy.

On December 12, 2014, theBig Ten Network included Dwight on "The Mount Rushmore ofIowa Football", as chosen by online fan voting. Dwight was joined in the honor byNile Kinnick,Chuck Long andAlex Karras.

On November 24, 2015, an annual award from theBig Ten Conference was created in honor of Dwight andJohnny Rodgers called theRodgers-Dwight Return Specialist of the Year.^[2]

Dwight also competed intrack events, with personal bests of 10.31 seconds in the 100 meters and 20.98 seconds in the 200 meters; in 1999, he was Big Ten Champion in the100-meter dash, and he also was a member of the Big Ten champion4x400-meter relay and4x100-meter relay teams in 1999, and the Big Ten champion 4x100-meter relay team in 1998.

Dwight was drafted in the fourth round (114th overall) of the1998 NFL draft by theAtlanta Falcons.^[3] InSuper Bowl XXXIII, he returned five kickoffs, including one for 94 yards and a touchdown. He is second all-time inSuper Bowl kick return yardage for a single game (210), and his 42.0 yards per return in the game was a Super Bowl career record. Dwight is also known as "The Man".

After three seasons with Atlanta, Dwight was traded on April 20, 2001, to theSan Diego Chargers as part of the deal that enabled the Falcons to select quarterbackMichael Vick with the 2001 draft's top selection (which the Chargers originally held pursuant to their 1–15 record in 2000).

Dwight became a free agent following the 2004 season, and on March 11, 2005, he signed with theNew England Patriots. As a New England Patriot, Dwight caught 19 passes for 332 yards and 3 touchdowns and also gained 523 yards returning punts and kickoffs.

After the2005 NFL season, Dwight signed a four-year contract to play for theNew York Jets, and was expected to play as the fourth wide receiver and perform return duties.

For the 2006 season, Dwight played in nine games totaling 16 receptions for 112 yards, before being placed on IR in early December. He also had 146 punt return yards.

Dwight signed a one-year contract with theOakland Raiders in October 2007. He returned one kickoff, and totaled 98 yards and two touchdowns as a receiver. He became a free agent after that season but did not play in the NFL in 2008.

Despite being only 5'8" tall and weighing 185 pounds, Dwight was a prolific punt and kick returner during his career. He was labeled "injury-prone" because he rarely played a season without missing a significant number of games. The 2005 season was the only season in which Dwight appeared in all 16 of his team's games. Dwight's most productive seasons as a wide receiver have been1999, when he caught 32 passes for 669 yards (a 20.9-yard average per catch) with seven touchdowns, and2002, when he caught 50 passes for 623 yards. He also scored five return touchdowns in the NFL, three on punts and two on kickoffs.

Dwight has a number of interests outside football. He founded the Tim Dwight Foundation to help needy kids with scholarships and provide assistance to the Children's Hospital of Iowa. He also owns his own yoga studio in Iowa.

In 2007,The Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette sports staff voted Dwight the all-time greatest athlete from that newspaper's circulation area, topping other notables like NFL quarterbackKurt Warner and 2007 Masters championZach Johnson.

• University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame profile
• Career statistics fromNFL.com · Pro Football Reference

• 1975 births
• Living people
• American football return specialists
• American football wide receivers
• Atlanta Falcons players
• Iowa Hawkeyes football players
• New England Patriots players
• New York Jets players
• Oakland Raiders players
• San Diego Chargers players
• All-American college football players
• Iowa City High School alumni
• Players of American football from Iowa City, Iowa
• American men sprinters
• Iowa Hawkeyes men's track and field athletes

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• Use American English from December 2023
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