Buffalo Rumblings
Dion Dawkins, the larger-than-life left tackle with an incredible heart and limitless personality, has once again been named one of the NFL’s best players. Dawkins joins the NFL Top 100 Players of 2025 at 42, moving up an impressive 54 spots from his inclusion in 2024 at spot 96.
What more can be said about Dawkins off the field? He’s full-throated about his love for all things Bills Mafia, and for the Western New York region. He does immeasurable good for underserved communities in and around Buffalo, NY and elsewhere through the Dion’s Dreamers foundation he began after arriving in Orchard Park, NY.
Dawkins uses his very public platform to do the best possible for those less fortunate than him, and it’s a true passion project that plays a featured role in his life off the field. Thanks to his play on the gridiron while protecting current NFL MVP quarterback Josh Allen, recognition for all that Dawkins does and has accomplished as a 31-year-old veteran about to enter his ninth NFL season continues to grow.
Trying to understand an offensive lineman’s stats often leads to challenging and incomplete conversations, apart from those about how many sacks they directly give up. Pro Football Focus (PFF) is often at the forefront of those debates, representing the real difficulty in understanding what makes for good offensive line play. That’s clearly true when looking at their numbers for Dawkins in 2024 instead of relying on the eye test.
Per PFF, Dawkins posted an overall grade of 72.9 (33/140 among OTs) in 2024; receiving a pass-blocking grade of 81.2 (16/140 among OTs); and finishing with a run-blocking grade of 68.7 (44/140 among OTs). Dawkins played 959 snaps in 2024 (26/140 among OTs) — further broken down as 585 pass-blocking snaps (23/140 among OTs) and 374 run-blocking snaps (26/140 among OTs).
Dawkins was penalized 13 times (131/140 among OTs), and gave up three sacks (77/140 among OTs) plus four quarterback hits (94/140 among OTs) — in total allowing 22 pressures (91/140 among OTs), all per PFF.
Dawkins is the second Bills player to be named to the 2025 list, joining running back James Cook (who landed at 89). As Dawkins will quickly remind, you already shnow that at least one more player from Buffalo’s current offensive roster will be named to this year’s list, namely Josh Allen.
