Ageless Dawson returning to Cleveland with 49ers

Associated Press

SANTA CLARA, Calif.

No parting shots, just Phil Dawson’s standard, classy approach in saying farewell to Cleveland:

“Phil was here 1999-2012,” he wrote in the cabinet where he stored his cleats, then later thanked the masses upon learning he really would be leaving town.

Three years after departing the only team he’d known, and after more than a decade of losing before he went west, Dawson acknowledges there are a few more grays in his signature goatee — and he hardly minds.

No doubt all those tough years in northern Ohio contributed to the current look of the Niners placekicker, and this weekend he returns to face his former Browns in the unforgiving elements at FirstEnergy Stadium.

He’s not thinking much about how he might be received from the old fans who loved him.

“I’m just going to go in there and try to zero in on the job at hand. There’ll be a week where I can soak it all in and reminisce and all that, but not this week,” Dawson said Wednesday. “I’ve just got to focus on my job. Kicking in Cleveland deserves your full attention in December.”

Dawson is in his 17th NFL season and third with San Francisco after spending his first 14 years with the Browns, and he said he is strongly leaning toward playing in 2016.

The soft-spoken, steady Dawson left his mark in Cleveland in so many ways, sticking it out through many frustrating moments.

“It was a job, one of 32 jobs in the world. You can’t be very picky in my line of work,” Dawson said. “I always considered it a privilege to be a Cleveland Brown. I was grateful to have a job and just put my head down and went to work. Before you know it, you were there 14 years.”

Sure, the 40-year-old Dawson might look all the more distinguished these days to locker mate and 21-year-old kicking partner Bradley Pinion, though the rookie punter didn’t need any convincing to give Dawson all his attention and respect.

Dawson is probably not going anywhere, either. As he approaches his 41st birthday in late January, he seems nearly ready to commit to another season if his wife and three children give their blessing. But it will ultimately be his call.

“I’m totally open to continuing on,” Dawson said.