The Buffalo Bills host the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 8 to kick off their 2024 campaign. While star quarterback Josh Allen begins his seventh NFL season in Western New York, this year's Bills team looks drastically different from the 2023 edition.
Four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs was traded to the Houston Texans and will catch passes from rising star C.J. Stroud instead of Allen. Safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde also left as part of the Bills' offseason shuffle.
While the Bills roster went through some considerable turnover throughout the offseason, one prominent member of the team's offense is not only returning, he remains firmly entrenched along the offensive line.
Dion Dawkins was drafted in 2017 and has spent his entire standout NFL career in Buffalo. He has also been named to four consecutive Pro Bowls. The star offensive lineman told Fox News Digital what he's learned after blocking for Allen for six years.
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Dawkins noted that continuity along any offensive line is key.
"Our quarterback needs to learn where he's comfortable at in the pocket, if he can stand [at a certain spot] longer or stand [somewhere else] longer or stand [in another position behind the offensive line] longer … all the way from the left tackle to the right. That's where that verbiage comes from. Us in Buffalo, last year we had the whole line the entire year … blessings … we were healthy. But every year it changes.
"I've have had a different guard next to me since I started. I've been in the league for eight years. You figure it out, but when [the] guys stay together, it's usually better for the quarterback. Timing, position, who's the heavier guy and how we're blocking from skinny to faster, it's a whole ordeal."
When asked about which defensive lineman he looks forward to competing against, Dawkins credited Cleveland Browns All-Pro pass rusher and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. He also pointed to the talent along the New York Jets defensive line as a whole.
"The Jets have a great defensive line. That's why [the level of intensity] is always so high, because they're good players who talk, we're good lineman that talk. The clash is always there, it's just a beautiful battle. But I would say Myles Garrett, the Bengals, the Jets, those teams are very physical teams and that's why all that passion and all that anger comes out."
The Jets and the Bills both play in the AFC East, which gives Dawkins the opportunity to take on the Jets defensive line two times per season.
Dawkins' disciplined training regime has been a key part of his success on the football field. This past offseason, he spent a few weeks in California and worked with a trainer at UCLA.
"I [went] to TruFusion and did a sauna, a boot-camp class, and then I [walked] five miles every day," Dawkins shared about some of the methods he put in practice to "get his body ready and right" for training camp and the regular season.
TruFusion is a fitness and yoga boutique that provides its members with access to heated and unheated yoga, Pilates, fitness boot camps and other activities. The company has locations in California, Nevada and several other states across the U.S.
While Dawkins acknowledged the loss of respected voices in the locker room like Diggs and other teammates, he also realizes change is inevitable given the business nature of the NFL.
"There is a lot of guys that are not there. But this is the NFL," Dawkins told the NFL Network last month. "Guys come, guys go, guys have to be ready. I think, regardless of who is in those spots, we know that they're going to give it their all. You know, like, 14 [Stefon Diggs], 21 [Jordan Poyer], 23 [Micah Hyde], all those numbers might not have those same faces, but we're shooting for the stars.
"Everybody is counting us out, which I'm cool with. We can fly underneath that radar and hit everybody with uppercuts. I'm perfectly fine with it, but I'm going to support those guys from a distance. It's definitely different, and I'm still adjusting to it. I'm trying to answer it, but I'm just adjusting to it every day because it is different, man. It really is."
When it comes to fashion, Dawkins frequently shows off his unique style on his social media platforms. He frequently collaborates with his personal shopper. Dawkins also said his physique requires him to always plan ahead so that he gives himself enough time to pull some custom pieces together.
"I … have a shopper who has become like a stylist," Dawkins told Fox News Digital. "Sebastian, he's making suits. [His] mentality, he's insane.
"You know big boys, it's harder to go to the store or size it, you got to come up with it," said the offensive tackle, who is listed on the Bills roster at 6 feet 5 inches tall and 320 pounds. "We got to plan to be fly."
The Sean McDermott-coached Bills qualified for the postseason for a fifth consecutive year in 2023 after finishing the regular season with an 11-6 record. The Bills got past the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round before losing to the eventual Super Bowl LVIII champion Kansas City Chiefs.
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