Rigotz Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 I've seen this in a number of threads now: "We need to draft a Left Tackle #1 and move Dawkins inside because ______" Why? Everyone said the same thing about Cordy Glenn and I didn't understand that either. 1. He's the only player on our Offensive Line that has an above average PFF grade: https://www.profootballfocus.com/nfl/players/dion-dawkins/11818 2. "He's not long enough to play tackle" ... what? He has 35'' arm length, which is above average for any tackle. http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/dion-dawkins?id=2557875 3. He has ZERO help inside ... which is important, because bad guard play is making him do more iso with worse communication. https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-2018-nfl-offensive-line-rankings-all-32-teams-units-after-week-6 Most importantly he's 24 years old. ... he can run block and pass block ... and he plays with a mean streak. Please stop this stupid narrative that we desperately need a Left Tackle. We need Wide Receivers and basically every other O-Line position first. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoBills808 Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 I am not as enamored of Dawkins as are some. I think he's merely serviceable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacklabel Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Yeah, I think Dawkins is fine. They wanted out of Glenn's contract and things kinda happened organically at that position. Glenn got hurt, Dawkins stepped in and played well. I'm sure Incognito helped him along but overall, he's been solid. And Ducasse hasn't been as abysmal as people think. Any OL has to play well as a unit and right now I'd say Bodine and Miller are the weak links. I thought Miller could bounce back to his 2016 form but he hasn't. Bodine is serviceable but he gets man-handled far too often. MIlls on the right side has actually been decent.... until he faces a speed rusher like Khalil Mack. Oh, lil' Nate... be prepared to run for yo' life! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thenorthremembers Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 He is an above average left tackle who is still incredibly young. He is the least of our worries. Does he whiff sometimes, yes he does. Do most tackles, yes they do. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 2 minutes ago, Rigotz said: I've seen this in a number of threads now: "We need to draft a Left Tackle #1 and move Dawkins inside because ______" Why? Everyone said the same thing about Cordy Glenn and I didn't understand that either. 1. He's the only player on our Offensive Line that has an above average PFF grade: https://www.profootballfocus.com/nfl/players/dion-dawkins/11818 2. "He's not long enough to play tackle" ... what? He has 35'' arm length, which is above average for any tackle. http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/dion-dawkins?id=2557875 3. He has ZERO help inside ... which is important, because bad guard play is making him do more iso with worse communication. https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-2018-nfl-offensive-line-rankings-all-32-teams-units-after-week-6 Most importantly he's 24 years old. ... he can run block and pass block ... and he plays with a mean streak. Please stop this stupid narrative that we desperately need a Left Tackle. We need Wide Receivers and basically every other O-Line position first. Because Cordy Glenn was a better LT then Dion Dawkins is....... You just didnt see Cordy get beat.....Dawkins does at times. This does not mean that Deon cannot play LT...he can....but if we can find a guy who can play LT for us Dion probably has all pro potential as a LG (which is woeful for us right now) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubes Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 He's serviceable. However, he did have the "olé" move that allowed the sack/strip of Anderson against the Pats****. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulus Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 (edited) PFF had Demitris Bell rated highly. So many Bills' fans ate that poo up, and cited PFF as fact and gospel. Bell was a bastard, which by default means he had a mean streak. People claimed he was a great pass blocker and a well-rounded run blocker. Fans and "experts" maintained that the Bills o-line was in no way a problem. They were wrong. That said, Dawkins is solid, young, and there are not many people who think that LT is a position of need (outside of OL depth, that is). Edited October 31, 2018 by Paulus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBeaneBandit Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 I don't think most are using the term desperate, but LT is absolutely upgradable. It would also improve the line as a whole quite a bit. Dawkins would be a killer LG and possibly a great RT so you gotta at least leave the option on the table. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 (edited) Dawkins would be better with Richie next to him and even better if he were on the right side and Cordy were playing left tackle. P.S. I never saw Cordy beaten the way I have seen Dion beaten sometimes. He seems like a great kid but it is clear that he misses Richie next to him. P.P.S. This is another example of the process guys mismanaging a position group. Edited October 31, 2018 by Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunnerBill Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 8 minutes ago, John from Riverside said: Because Cordy Glenn was a better LT then Dion Dawkins is....... You just didnt see Cordy get beat.....Dawkins does at times. This does not mean that Deon cannot play LT...he can....but if we can find a guy who can play LT for us Dion probably has all pro potential as a LG (which is woeful for us right now) This is rare for me - but I agree totally with what John said. Dion Dawkins is most definitely not Cordy Glenn. He is a serviceable NFL left tackle. He is a middle of the league guy. He is one of only two people on our offense (with Shady the other) who I believe is capable of starting for another NFL team. But I do think he would be potentially elite at LG and thought that guard was a long term fit for him coming out - I never thought that about Cordy who I always saw as a franchise LT. My first choice for upgrading the line would be to find an elite LT because I still believe that is a premium position in the NFL and I believe Dawkins would be elite inside.... so there is your elite left side straight away. But that is going to be difficult. Not sure if there is one there in the draft and there definitely isn't in FA. So I am comfortable keeping Dawkins at LT and picking up a couple of the good interior FAs and a FA RT as a good second option. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Gun Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 13 minutes ago, GoBills808 said: I am not as enamored of Dawkins as are some. I think he's merely serviceable. Same here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Call_Of_Ktulu Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Dawkins will be a pro bowler once Castillo is fired after the bye or at the end of the year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Popinski Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Dawkins is the kind of LT that you can win with if you have a great QB. I think we have more pressing needs on the OL than LT at this point. That said Van Noy really got him bad on that sack fumble. so he's got work to do. I was always adamant they should not move Glenn under any circumstances. Dawkins...ehh, move him, don't move him, whatever. just improve the Oline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: This is rare for me - but I agree totally with what John said. Dion Dawkins is most definitely not Cordy Glenn. He is a serviceable NFL left tackle. He is a middle of the league guy. He is one of only two people on our offense (with Shady the other) who I believe is capable of starting for another NFL team. But I do think he would be potentially elite at LG and thought that guard was a long term fit for him coming out - I never thought that about Cordy who I always saw as a franchise LT. My first choice for upgrading the line would be to find an elite LT because I still believe that is a premium position in the NFL and I believe Dawkins would be elite inside.... so there is your elite left side straight away. But that is going to be difficult. Not sure if there is one there in the draft and there definitely isn't in FA. So I am comfortable keeping Dawkins at LT and picking up a couple of the good interior FAs and a FA RT as a good second option. Thanks....I think I think Dawkins has movement skills that at OG he could get out and block on screens and get on guys at the second level.....something Decausse simply cannot do. With our current OG's we cannot set up and run screens to at all....its pretty bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jpsredemption Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 They wanted to get out of Glenns contract...you know the left tackle we had that was really good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunnerBill Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 3 minutes ago, Peter said: Dawkins would be better with Richie next to him and even better if here were on the right side and Cordy were playing left tackle. I don't think he would be better at RT actually. From what we saw the only time he tried it (pre-season 2017) he looked very unnatural on that side. I think he is a natural left sider and has much more T/G flexibility than R/L flexibility. If Richie and Cordy were both here I'd have flipped Richie to RG (where he had played before both for Miami and the Rams) left Cordy at LT and slipped Dawkins into LG. I did bang on about Cordy being the 2nd best player on our team after Lesean and being majorly undervalued by many fans for about 3 years before he left. Only now he is gone are people properly appreciating him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 2 minutes ago, Jpsredemption said: They wanted to get out of Glenns contract...you know the left tackle we had that was really good. He WAS good till he started taking on injuries. I would not have moved him because when he is healthy he is was one of the under rated LT's of the league......but I understand why he was moved. You dont just replace those guys though that is why conflicted when we moved him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 2 minutes ago, Jpsredemption said: They wanted to get out of Glenns contract...you know the left tackle we had that was really good. No question this regime wanted out of the contract but because he was dealt we were able to move up the draft board and select our qb. In my mind the priority was getting the qb. The overall price was steep but it was necessary. On balance it worked out for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 1 minute ago, GunnerBill said: I don't think he would be better at RT actually. From what we saw the only time he tried it (pre-season 2017) he looked very unnatural on that side. I think he is a natural left sider and has much more T/G flexibility than R/L flexibility. If Richie and Cordy were both here I'd have flipped Richie to RG (where he had played before both for Miami and the Rams) left Cordy at LT and slipped Dawkins into LG. I did bang on about Cordy being the 2nd best player on our team after Lesean and being majorly undervalued by many fans for about 3 years before he left. Only now he is gone are people properly appreciating him. At least we can agree that it was foolish to get rid of Cordy (wherever one might play Dion). Getting rid of Cordy was especially idiotic in light of our huge investment in drafting a very, very raw QB. One would have thought that a guy who came back from a kidney removal would have the character to be part of the "process." COYG 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 12 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: This is rare for me - but I agree totally with what John said. Dion Dawkins is most definitely not Cordy Glenn. He is a serviceable NFL left tackle. He is a middle of the league guy. He is one of only two people on our offense (with Shady the other) who I believe is capable of starting for another NFL team. But I do think he would be potentially elite at LG and thought that guard was a long term fit for him coming out - I never thought that about Cordy who I always saw as a franchise LT. My first choice for upgrading the line would be to find an elite LT because I still believe that is a premium position in the NFL and I believe Dawkins would be elite inside.... so there is your elite left side straight away. But that is going to be difficult. Not sure if there is one there in the draft and there definitely isn't in FA. So I am comfortable keeping Dawkins at LT and picking up a couple of the good interior FAs and a FA RT as a good second option. and from many reports...Glenn is playing very well 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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