Round 2, 63rd Overall: Dion Dawkins, OT (Temple)
Trade with Atlanta Falcons: BUF sends 75th overall, 149th overall, and 156th overall in 2017, ATL sends 63rd overall 2017
The Buffalo Bills had to shore up the tackle position and did so in trading up to draft Dion Dawkins from Temple, who has become the best starter for the Bills on their line.
Dawkins was great in his rookie season, only allowing 3 sacks after appearing in all 16 games and starting 11 of them.
Buffalo traded Cordy Glenn in the 2018 draft and opened up the spot for Dawkins to be the left tackle for the foreseeable future. But the left tackle out of Temple regressed in 2018 allowing 7 sacks and taking a woeful 13 penalties (3rd most in NFL).
Going into his third season with Buffalo, Dawkins needed a good year to solidify himself firmly as the starter on Josh Allen‘s blindside for the foreseeable future and that he did. Only allowing 4 sacks and getting more dominant as the season went on. Dawkins is also great in the community and helps out with a lot of good causes in the city, another reason to love Dawkins going forward. Going into his fourth season the Bills blindside protector is trending up and looking like a long time starter for the team.
Dawkins uses this snatch technique with pass rushers where he can overpower rushers with his hands and throw them to the ground. Mixing that in with an absorb and anchor that he usually relies on makes him unpredictable for pass rushers.
Dion Dawkins is one of the biggest/strongest/most physical LTs in the league and when rushers long-arm or lean into him I think they expect him to just absorb & anchor, so he mixes in a nasty snatch/trap technique that had a lot of success in 2019. Fun to watch. pic.twitter.com/hq7f3ugvA5
— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) January 17, 2020