Dean was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 1975 NFL draft with the 33rd overall pick. Chargers coach Tommy Prothro initially projected him as a linebacker but eventually relented to Dean's wish to remain a lineman.[4] As a rookie, he had seven sacks and registered his career-high of 93 tackles.[7] He recorded 15+1⁄2 sacks in 1978.[4] In 1979, the Chargers won the AFC West division while leading the AFC in fewest points allowed (246).[8] Dean had nine sacks in 13 games and was named to the All-AFC team.[9][10]
The Chargers again won the AFC West in 1980, with Dean teaming with fellow 1975 Charger draftees Gary "Big Hands" Johnson and Louie Kelcher as the Chargers led the NFL in sacks (60).[11][12] Dean had missed the first two games of the season after not reporting, but still finished the season with 10+1⁄2 sacks.[13] He and Johnson were named first-team All-Pro, with Kelcher being named second-team All-Pro. The trio along with Leroy Jones formed a defensive front that was nicknamed the Bruise Brothers.[11][12]
San Francisco 49ers
In 1981, Dean was traded to the San Francisco 49ers due to a contract dispute with Chargers' ownership.[14] He complained that he was the lowest-paid sixth-year defensive lineman in 1980 and that his salary was below the average of all defensive linemen.[15][16] Dean contended that he was making the same amount of money as his brother-in-law who was a truck driver.[17] Originally set to make $75,000 that season,[18] the 49ers renegotiated his contract to reportedly near $150,000 a year.[19] The Chargers' defense would not be the same afterwards, and Don "Air" Coryell's Chargers teams are now most remembered for its high-scoring, pass-oriented offense that did not have enough defense to make it to a Super Bowl. In 2013, U-T San Diego called the Chargers trading Dean "perhaps the biggest blunder in franchise history".[20] "I can't say how much it affected us, because we did make it to the AFC championship game," said Johnson of the Chargers without Dean. "But I could say if we had more pass rush from the corner, it might've been different".[4]
With San Francisco, Dean was used as a pass-rush specialist, playing only when the 49ers switched from a 3–4 defense to a 4–3 or a 4–2 nickel.[18][21] He joined the team mid-season for Game 6 against the Dallas Cowboys.[22] After only a couple of practices, he played and was still able to record two sacks and apply pressure and repeatedly hurry Danny White in a 45–14 win by the 49ers. His performance was noted by author Tom Danyluk as "the greatest set of downs I have ever seen unleashed by a pass rusher".[23] In what had been a game of possum, Bill Walsh, the 49er head coach, said to John Madden, who covered the game, "Fred (Dean) just got here... If he plays, he won't play much".[24] But he played the whole game.[25]
Two weeks later at home against the Los Angeles Rams, the 49ers won 20–17 for their first-ever win against the Rams at home in Candlestick Park, as Dean sacked Pat Haden4+1⁄2 times.[18] Dean was named the UPI NFC Defensive Player of the Year with 12 sacks while playing in 11 games for the 49ers.[26] The 49ers went on to win Super Bowl XVI that year, and Steve Sabol (NFL Films) is quoted in 2006 as saying that Dean's acquisition was the last meaningful in-season trade, in that it affected the destination of the Lombardi Trophy.[9] San Francisco, which was 3–2 when Dean arrived, won 13 of their final 14 games, including the playoffs.[27]
In 1983, Dean recorded a career-high 17+1⁄2 sacks to lead the NFC and recorded a then-NFL record of six in one game, setting that mark during the 49ers’ 27–0 shutout of the New Orleans Saints on November 13, 1983.[28]
Dean was also a key player on the 1984 squad than won Super Bowl XIX. He was reunited with his former Charger teammates Johnson, Kelcher and Billy Shields, who were acquired by the 49ers.[14]
^ ab"No. 16: Chargers' best draft class". ESPN.com. March 28, 2009. Retrieved May 27, 2011. The 2001 class was good, but the 1975 class ranks the best. San Diego had four of the first 33 picks in the draft, and the Chargers selected three defensive linemen that would form the nucleus of "The Bruise Brothers" and once formed three-fourths of the AFC Pro Bowl defensive line.(subscription required)
^Smith, Rick (1981). 1981 San Diego Chargers Facts Book. San Diego Chargers. p. 28.
^Branch, Eric (October 15, 2020). "49ers' Hall of Fame pass rusher Fred Dean dies at 68 after coronavirus infection". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 16, 2020. In 1981, the 49ers, coming off a 6-10 season, acquired Dean in a trade from San Diego when they were 3-2. They proceeded to win 13 of their last 14 games, including the Super Bowl.
^Magee, Jerry (February 2, 2008). "Dean awaits call from Canton". The San Diego Union-Tribune. p. D-3. During a career made up of six seasons in San Diego and five in San Francisco, he had 93 sacks, by the count of John Turney of the Pro Football Researchers Association.
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