Biography

Michael Jerome Irvin (born March 5, 1966) is an American sports commentator and former professional football player. He played his entire 12-year career as a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). In 2007, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Irvin played college football at the University of Miami and was selected in the first round of the 1988 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. He spent his entire 12-year NFL career from 1988 to 1999 with the Cowboys before it ended abruptly from a cervical spine injury sustained in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Veterans Stadium on October 10, 1999 in which Irvin was carted off the field and transported to a Philadelphia hospital.

Irvin was nicknamed "Playmaker" due to his penchant for making big plays in big games during his college and pro careers, and he relished the nickname, even acquiring "PLY MKR" as his Texas vanity license plate. Along with Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, Irvin was one of three key Cowboys offensive players, known as "The Triplets", who led the Cowboys to three Super Bowl wins in 1992, 1993, and 1995.Irvin is widely considered to be one of the greatest wide receivers of all time.Irvin is a former broadcaster for ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown and currently an analyst for NFL Network. In 2009, he competed in Season 9 of Dancing with the Stars in which he was the season's ninth contestant to be eliminated.He is one of the co-hosts of the FS1 weekday morning debate show Undisputed with Richard Sherman, Keyshawn Johnson, and Skip Bayless.