He played college football for the Washington Huskies, where he was a third-team All-American and first-team All-Pac-10 in 1996, and was selected by the Bengals in the second round of the 1997 NFL draft.
[citation needed] Dillon and Raiford garnered Parade, USA, Best In The West and Tom Flemming All-American awards.
The following year, he played for Dixie State College in St. George, Utah, and rushed for 1899 yards and 20 TDs in 279 attempts.
[4] During his first season in 1997, Dillon rushed 39 times for 246 yards and 4 touchdowns in a 41–14 win over the Tennessee Oilers, breaking Jim Brown's rookie single-game record that had stood for 40 years.
New England won its third Super Bowl, due in no small part to the running game built around Dillon.
In 2005, while injury problems plagued Dillon and he was not able to duplicate his stats from 2004, he remained a major contributor to the team, rushing for 733 yards and 12 touchdowns in 12 games.
In the 2006 season, Dillon began sharing the team's rushing duties with rookie running back Laurence Maroney.
With the retirement of Curtis Martin, he spent his final year as the NFL's active leader in career rushing yards.
A month later, Dillon admitted to considering a comeback with the Patriots with the season-ending injury to RB Sammy Morris, but ultimately remained retired.