Bills Central

Bills' Dion Dawkins calls for some love for the big guys

Pro Bowl left tackle thinks NFL Honors should add award to highlight that season’s top offensive lineman
Khari Demos|
Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins.
Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

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Can the big fellas get some love?

Thursday was a strong day for the Buffalo Bills as several members of the organization were selected as award finalists for the NFL Honors. Josh Allen is up for the Most Valuable Player award, Damar Hamlin is vying for Comeback Player of the Year, and offensive coordinator Joe Brady is up for the Assistant Coach of the Year award.

Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins was happy for his guys but he posed a great question about the matter: why isn’t there an Offensive Lineman of the Year award?

"Offensive linemen don't have awards for being great," said Dawkins after Buffalo’s post-practice media availability Thursday. "There's not a Protector of the Year Award. I'm knocking at so many doors now to get this award going. And I'm going to head spear it and make sure this gets done before I'm done playing."

The four-time Pro Bowler is right. Why isn’t there a top O-lineman honor?

Of course offensive linemen are members of the All-Pro and Pro Bowl teams. But aside from that, there aren’t any other awards designated for the big guys upfront. The fact that there are no other offensive linemen awards in the NFL is even more odd considering that FBS college football has several.

The Rimington Trophy goes to the nation’s top center and the Outland Trophy goes to the top interior lineman in the country. There’s also the Joe Moore Award, which goes to the top offensive line unit.

But that brings a question to mind: what Bills offensive linemen could have jockied for the type of award Dawkins mentioned?

Dion Dawkins
Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Unfortunately, Buffalo has not had a first-team All-Pro selection since Kent Hull in 1990 and 1991. But if the NFL adopted an award like the Joe Moore Award in college, this year’s Bills could have made a case for it.

The No. 2 scoring offense in the league only giving up 14 sacks all year for an MVP candidate under center? That sounds Offensive Line of the Year worthy to me. But there is no NFL honor for that. Woof.

Maybe one day the big fellas will finally get some love.

Spencer Brown, O'Cyrus Torrence, Connor McGovern, and David Edwards
Buffalo Bills offensive linemen Spencer Brown (79), O'Cyrus Torrence (64), Connor McGovern (66) and David Edwards (76). | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Khari Demos
KHARI DEMOS

Khari Demos is an award-winning sports media creator and is a contributor for Bills On SI. He has written sports betting article covering the NFL for The Athletic and has written pieces about the NBA, MLB, college football and basketball, and more, throughout his career.