Patrick Travis Swilling (born October 25, 1964) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, and the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

. He had five

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

appearances in his NFL career and was the

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(AP)

NFL Defensive Player of the Year Several organizations give out NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards that are listed in the ''NFL Record and Fact Book'' and ''Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League''. The Associated Press (AP) has been givi ...

in 1991. He served from 2001 to 2004 as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.

College career

Swilling played for the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Ramblin' Wrec ...

. He set the NCAA record for sacks in a game, with seven against North Carolina State and the Georgia Tech mark for sacks in a season (15). Voted first-team All-America in 1985, Swilling left Georgia Tech as the all-time sack leader and now ranks 5th.

Professional career

The

fielded fierce defenses in 1991 and 1992, led by the best linebacker unit in the history of the league. In 1991, he had 17 sacks and was named

. In 1992, linebackers

Rickey Jackson Rickey Anderson Jackson (born March 20, 1958) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints (1981–1993) and the San Francisco 49ers (1994–1995). He led the team's Dome P ...

, Vaughan Johnson,

Sam Mills Samuel Davis Mills Jr. (June 3, 1959 – April 18, 2005) was an American football linebacker who played twelve seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers. He also played for three seasons for ...

, and Swilling, also known as the

Dome Patrol The Dome Patrol was the linebacker corps of the National Football League's New Orleans Saints during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Under head coach Jim Mora, it formed the second level of defensive coordinator Steve Sidwell's 3–4 defense, cons ...

, all played in the Pro Bowl, and the Saints led the league in

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in th ...

s. Despite its tenacious defense, the team lost in the first round each time it made the

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

s during this time. Swilling was traded to the

in 1993 for draft picks. In order to sign him, Detroit had to "unretire" the legendary Joe Schmidt’s number 56. In his first year with Detroit he made it to his fifth and final Pro Bowl. The Detroit Lions qualified for the playoffs in both of Swilling's seasons with the team, being eliminated each time, in the first round, by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. He finished his career with 107.5 sacks. Swilling lost all six playoff games he played in; no other player in NFL history has more losses without a win.

Personal life

Swilling was a professional football player from 1986 to 1998. In 2001, he won a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the Louisiana House for District 100 in New Orleans. He served for three years with assignments on the House Education, Retirement, and Transportation committees. He lost his bid for a full term as representative in the 2003 runoff election to his fellow Democrat

Austin Badon Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city i ...

, who polled 6,688 votes (53.3 percent) to Swilling's 5,851 (46.7 percent). On April 30, 2009, Swilling was elected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

. He is currently a real estate developer in New Orleans. His son, Pat Swilling, Jr. signed to play basketball at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

on May 24, 2012. Two of his sons, Bruce Jordan-Swilling and Tre Swilling, play on the Georgia Tech football team. As of the 2020–2021 season, Bruce is a senior linebacker and Tre is a redshirt junior defensive back.

References

External links

Career Statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swilling, Pat 1964 births Living people People from Toccoa, Georgia People from New Orleans American football linebackers American football defensive ends Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players New Orleans Saints players Detroit Lions players Oakland Raiders players National Conference Pro Bowl players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives 100 Sacks Club National Football League Defensive Player of the Year Award winners