B Dawk enters the Hall of Fame this weekend as a nine-time Pro Bowler who played 16 NFL seasons.

The fan-favorite Eagle sat down with NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Derrick Gunn recently in an interview where he revealed that he dealt with depression during his early days in the NFL.

Dawkins told Gunn that it was the result of pressure being piled on him from many different directions:

“I had troubles channeling that anger in the right direction. They would come out in outbursts, and because I’m a quiet individual, and as men, we don’t talk … anyway, I talked even less, and so all that stuff was bounding up. When you don’t have answers, it comes out in different ways. During that first year, I had a lot of pressures from family members, being a newlywed, my son, Brian, was born.

“We’re new parents with a colicky baby, so there’s no sleep, and then, there were pressures on the job. Emmitt Thomas (his defensive coordinator) was constantly on me pushing me to be better because he saw more in me than I was putting out, to be honest.

…

“Overall, I didn’t have any outlets, and so I began to drink a little more than I needed to, and that quickly spiraled down into depression. I went through a real dark, deep depression. Alcohol was a tremendous crutch. There were times I didn’t even want to be around my family, didn’t want to be around my son.

“I just wanted to be in a dark room by myself with nobody. My room, I won’t say was a frequent occurrence, but it was something I would do. My faith back then wasn’t that strong, so I listened to the other voice in my head, and that’s where suicidal thoughts came in, and then actually planning out how I would go about it in such a way that Connie (his wife) and my son would get the money from my insurance policy.”

Dawkins explains that he went to see a psychiatrist, started taking medication for his issues, and fought his way through it with the help of his wife and a renewed dedication to his faith.

NBCSP is going to run more of Gunn’s conversation with Dawkins this Wednesday night. “Brian Dawkins Enshrined” will air at 6:30 and 10:00 p.m. I’m sure they’ll replay it before the ceremony as well.