Dion Dawkins (born April 26, 1994) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

Early years

Dawkins attended

Rahway High School Rahway High School is a four-year public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Rahway, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Rahway Public Schools. The high sc ...

Rahway, New Jersey Rahway () is a city in southern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway Valley region, in the New York metropolitan area. The city is southwest of Manhattan ...

where he earned the nickname “the Shnowman.” After originally committing to the Cincinnati Bearcats, Dawkins signed with

in January 2013.

College career

Dawkins played at Temple from 2013 to 2016, starting 41 of 44 career games. Dawkins was named a First-team All-

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

selection after his senior year.

Professional career

Dawkins received an invitation to the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

and started at guard for the North team. The North lost 15-16 to the South and he was named the Senior Bowl's top offensive lineman. He improved his draft stock after practicing and performing well during the

. He attended the NFL Combine and completed all of the combine drills and positional drills. At Temple's Pro Day, Dawkins opted to attempt the vertical jump again and added two inches to his number from the Combine. He performed well in the positional drills with 40 scouts and representatives from all 32

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

teams scouting him and 13 other teammates, including Temple's feature prospect,

Haason Reddick Haason Samir Reddick (born September 22, 1994) is an American football outside linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Temple, and was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the ...

. Dawkins had private workouts with four teams, including the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

, and

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

. The majority of NFL draft experts and analysts projected him to be a second round pick. He was ranked the second-best guard in the draft by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', the third-best guard by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, the third-best interior offensive lineman by NFL analyst

Mike Mayock Michael Francis Mayock (born August 14, 1958) is a former American football executive and former player who served as the general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) from 2019 to 2021. Mayock was a safety with ...

, and the fourth-best offensive tackle by NFL analyst

Bucky Brooks William Eldridge "Bucky" Brooks Jr. (born January 22, 1971) is a sportswriter and former professional American football player. He played for five National Football League (NFL) teams in a five-year career, primarily as a kick returner. Brooks i ...

and NFLDraftScout.com. Dion Dawkins

The

selected Dawkins in the second round (63rd overall) of the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia f ...

. Dawkins was the second offensive guard drafted in 2017, behind

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

guard

Forrest Lamp Forrest Noah Lamp (born February 20, 1994) is an American football guard who is a free agent. He played college football at Western Kentucky and was drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Early years La ...

. On May 19, 2017, the Buffalo Bills signed Dawkins to a four-year, $4.18 million contract with $1.83 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $1.18 million. He played in all 16 games, starting 11 at left tackle in place of

Cordy Glenn Cordy Glenn (born September 18, 1989) is a former American football offensive tackle. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He played college football at Georgia. Glenn earned a 2010 All-American select ...

. Dawkins received an overall grade of 74.5 from

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

in 2017. Dawkins entered training camp in 2018 slated as the starting left tackle after the Buffalo Bills traded Cordy Glenn to the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

. Head coach

Sean McDermott Sean Michael McDermott (born March 21, 1974) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL coaching career as an assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001, ...

named Dawkins the starting left tackle to begin the regular season in 2018. In Week 10 of the 2018 season, against the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

, Dawkins caught his first career pass, a seven-yard touchdown from

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Matt Barkley Matthew Montgomery Barkley (born September 8, 1990) is an American football quarterback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at USC, and was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth roun ...

. In Week 16 of the 2019 season, against the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, Dawkins caught his second touchdown pass from

Josh Allen Josh or Joshua Allen may refer to: * Josh Allen (offensive lineman) (born 1991), former American football player * Josh Allen (quarterback) (born 1996), American football quarterback in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills since 2018 * Josh Allen (defen ...

. On August 13, 2020, Dawkins signed a four-year, $60 million contract extension with the Bills that includes $34 million guaranteed. In 2021, he began training camp on the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

reserve list and needed some time to return to playing shape. Dawkins later revealed that he spent four days in the hospital battling the disease calling it “one of the lowest points" of his life.

References

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29655203/bills-dion-dawkins-reach-60-million-extension-2024-season

External links

Temple Owls bioBuffalo Bills bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawkins, Dion 1994 births Living people Rahway High School alumni Sportspeople from Rahway, New Jersey Players of American football from New Jersey American football offensive tackles American football offensive guards Temple Owls football players Buffalo Bills players American Conference Pro Bowl players