Dion Dawkins made a statement in July. He walked the red carpet while attending the 2023 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles in an expensive, sea green suit ... with no shirt. Bare-chested.
“That was the confidence in me being skinny ... and it was hot as heck,” Dawkins said.
Dawkins had lost 40 pounds earlier in the offseason. He has been strictly following an eating regimen laid out by the team for the past six months, since the start of March. He’s in great shape and ready for the start of his seventh season.
And Dawkins again is one of the critical players on the squad. Dawkins was voted to the Pro Bowl in 2021. He made the Pro Bowl again as a first alternate at offensive tackle last season.
Dawkins is in his prime at age 29, and he protects the blind side of franchise quarterback Josh Allen. The Bills’ depth at the offensive tackle position is a concern entering the season opener Monday against the New York Jets. One could argue Dawkins is one of the most indispensable Bills. After Allen, Stefon Diggs and Tre’Davious White, Dawkins is probably next on the list of players you want to see stay healthy.
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The Bills’ pass offense is counting on another good year by the left tackle, and Dawkins knows it.
“I want to do more,” Dawkins says. “I’ve been Pro Bowl Dion. ... It’s time for me to make that All-Pro step. It’s time for me to shut everybody up. I’ve played the most snaps here – that’s a fact – under (Sean) McDermott. I’ve had way more good plays than bad plays.”
The ending of last season, the playoff loss to Cincinnati, was a bitter pill for all the Bills’ players, including Dawkins.
He gained an added 40 pounds from his 330-pound playing weight during late January and February.
“I was like 370 by the start of March,” Dawkins said. “I was kinda binging as comfort. Dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner. It caught up quick.”
Dawkins met with Will Greenberg, the Bills’ assistant strength and conditioning coach and performance development coach.
“I started drinking a ton of water,” Dawkins said. “I would drink 100 ounces of water before I would eat anything, before I would put any food into my body. Every day. Then I was doing two Chipotle salads a day, like 600 to 800 calories a day. That’s it. If I needed a pick-me-up, I’d have a protein bar for 200 calories.”
Why Chipotle? “It was really just to track the calories,” Dawkins said. “It’s easy to track. You get a salad. It tells you exactly how much protein you’re eating. You would think it was hard. But you forget about it.
Why so much water to start the day? “The example he gave me,” Dawkins said, “the fat, the stuff that’s hard to get off, it’s like rocks. The more water you put in there, the water is smacking against it like ocean waves. It might pull a couple of grains, and pull a couple grains. The more water you put in, the more powerful it is.
“You’d be amazed how quick I lost that 40,” Dawkins said. “I’d say it was a month and a week.”
Since then Dawkins has gone to a more conventional diet and eating most of his meals at the Bills’ training facility, all under the team nutrition supervision.
“Everything I’m doing this year is because of Will Greenberg,” Dawkins said. “He’s been kind of like my day-to-day. Everything that goes into my body – it’s him overseeing it.”
Now it’s time for Dawkins to show off the fruits of his offseason work.
He has been reliable. He has missed only two games in his six Bills seasons. He is nimble and powerful. Every once in awhile, he can be seen doing a cartwheel at practice, definitely an uncommon sight for a 330-pounder.
“Everybody knows he’s a freak athlete,” said Bills right tackle Spencer Brown. “It’s hard to explain how athletic he is. I’ve never seen such a big man be able to move and be explosive and fast-twitch as he is. ... He will stand on his head before practice. I’m like, I don’t know how much you weigh, dude, but that’s a big body doing that.”
Dawkins knows he’s fortunate to be playing with a colossal talent like Allen. He wants to produce for himself and his teammates. But he also feels the sting of negative reaction to the Bills’ playoff exit last January.
“Some people bank on the bad plays, and it’s corny because every year I’ve been here statistically I’ve gotten better,” Dawkins said. “Some people lose sight of that because everybody wants everybody to be immortal.”
NFL players find all kinds of sources for motivation. Critics are one, for sure.
On one hand, Dawkins talks about the narrow focus a pro athlete needs.
“Mind, body and soul, bro,” he said. “Like I used to care about a lot of things. And now with me being older, I get to preach to the guys: mind, body, soul. Like (Jordan) Poyer. Be with your feet are.”
Still, Dawkins can’t block out all the heat he sees the team taking when the season ends in a disappointing way.
“We’re human man,” he said. “Of course, you hear it. Everybody sucks. We need a whole new team. I’m a respectful guy. Some people are full of it. We put our all in this. I’m starving in the offseason for myself and for y’all. So the fact you’ve got anything negative to say about anybody is horrible. But it’s cool. I’m going to just do better.”
Does he feel as good as he ever has felt?
“I want you to just watch me and see what you think,” Dawkins said.
