Bills star OT relishes role as team underdog: ‘Hit everybody with uppercuts’

It’s a phrase that gets uttered hundreds of times during every football season: “The NFL is a business.”

Billions of dollars are floating around the league, and the NFL’s rules to ensure parity often lead to tough decisions by team executives. Clubs must let go of players who are popular with both the organization and fans each offseason for a multitude of reasons, whether it’s because the individual is aging, or no longer counts against the team’s salary cap, etc.

Knowing it’s a business doesn’t necessarily make the trades any easier to accept. There are real lives, relationships and emotions at stake — a player changing teams doesn’t undo all the connections he’s made with his former teammates. It’s a notion that Buffalo Bills stalwart left tackle Dion Dawkins had to absorb throughout the 2024 offseason, as the team’s roster changed around him; Buffalo parted ways with players like Stefon Diggs, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Tre’Davious White, Mitch Morse and Gabriel Davis in the offseason, eliminating several key voices from its locker room who were major contributors throughout the team’s recent run of perennial competition.

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An eight-year member of the Bills organization, Dawkins has grown close to several of the now-defunct names. It was strange for the offensive lineman to navigate the team’s offseason workouts without several of his longtime teammates, but the 30-year-old realizes that’s just the nature of the beast.

“I think every year the team is different,” Dawkins said during a recent appearance on NFL Network. Insiders“We play in a league where there’s going to be piece changes, piece shuffles, pieces on the board are going to do what they’re going to do. When you lose a guy like Stefon (Diggs), you lose a lot of character. You lose a lot of, I would say, attitude and style, because Diggs is very comfortable with who he was and he brings a lot of energy wherever he goes.

“I think Beane and the people at the top, the management that leads and brings guys in here, they do a good job of keeping guys in a consistent environment, not making drastic changes, where you’re just like, ‘Oh, Stefon’s gone?’ But we have guys that have learned, we have guys that are here and we have guys that are going to fill those positions. I know I can try to put it out there the way I can, but Diggs was one of my favorite teammates, man. He was just himself and he had a lot of passion. I think if we’re talking about Diggs, he’s the biggest change, and (Jordan) Poyer, and Micah (Hyde), I mean, man, you’re right, there’s a lot of guys that aren’t here.”

The offseason personnel change leaves Buffalo in a bit of an odd position heading into the 2024 season. The team is still solid overall — as any club led by one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks should be — but national prognosticators may be a bit pessimistic about the team’s ceiling compared to years past, given its omissions and unproven additions. Dawkins welcomes that idea, as it’s been a while since the Bills were considered an underdog.

“It’s the NFL,” the three-time Pro Bowler said. “Guys come, guys go, guys have to be ready. I think no matter who’s in those positions, we know they’re going to give it their all. No. 14, 21, 23 — all those numbers might not have the same faces, but we’re shooting for the stars. Everybody’s writing us off, which I’m fine with. We can fly under the radar and uppercut everybody. I have no problem with that.”

Dawkins believes Buffalo has shown promising signs of cohesion throughout its offseason workouts, but June’s practices can only go so far in terms of establishing team-wide chemistry. The bulk of the work, Dawkins said, will take place down I-90 at St. John Fisher University in Rochester while the team works through training camp.

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“It’s a different pace, but I think throughout this whole OTA thing, it’s been good,” Dawkins said. “It’s been really, really good. The young guys and the new guys have understood what we do here, how we play here, how we practice and how we get to and from work. They’ve jumped on board, and it’s a good pace.”

“It’s a good pace now, but honestly, the camp is going to show. We can’t fake it and we can’t lie about it. It’s going to show. If we’re hurting, it’s going to show. If we’re not, it’s going to show. If the pace is still good and the train is still moving, then you’ll see it too.”

Fans will have their first chance to see the team’s revamped roster take the field when training camp begins July 24.

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