Former Jets center Kevin Mawae is getting enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday night.
Mawae is considered to be one of the greatest centers in the modern era of the NFL and spent years attempting to get elected into Canton. For nearly 20 years, the Jets were fortunate enough to have him and Nick Mangold snapping the ball.
Before his big night, let’s take a look at a few things that made Mawae stand out during his Hall of Fame career.
The streak
Mawae compiled streaks of 118 consecutive games (and starts) as a Jet and 179 straight games and 177 straight starts overall before suffering a torn triceps midway through the 2005 season.
During his streak, Mawae helped block for another Hall of Famer, Jets running back Curtis Martin. Mawae was elected to eight Pro Bowls and earned seven first-team All-Pro selections during the streak.
‘Military brat’
The son of a military officer, Mawae grew up wherever his father was stationed.
Mawae lived all over, from Georgia to Kansas to Germany. It was in Louisiana where he wound up attending high school and then playing at Louisiana State.
It was actually in Hanau, Germany, where Mawae started to learn the game that would make him into a superstar.
College coach
Mawae was reunited with his old Jets coach, Herm Edwards, when he signed on as an offensive analyst at Arizona State in 2018.
Mawae was a member of the Chicago Bears coaching staff as an assistant offensive line coach in 2016. He was not retained by the Bears for the 2017 season after Chicago hired Matt Nagy to be its head coach.
NFL Players Association
Mawae was elected president of the NFLPA in March 2008 and was re-elected in 2010. Mawae announced his retirement from the NFL in 2010 but served his term until 2012.
It was under his term that active players began to be present for CBA negotiations.
