Bills' Dion Dawkins makes legends proud with Protector Award: ‘This is part of my legacy now'

New York Times

23-05-2025

To single out an offensive lineman — for anything other than a penalty or whiffing on a block — is counterculture to the profession's long-standing virtues.
They're supposed to be not only anonymous, but also proud of it. They perform mostly thankless jobs for the glory of others, never to win a Heisman Trophy, an MVP, or even Offensive Player of the Year.
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Overlooked as they are, offensive linemen are not interchangeable parts.
The topic hits a nerve with Jackie Slater. The Hall of Fame tackle recalled speaking with a Los Angeles Rams executive he would not name and being told, 'We can get any overweight taxicab driver to do your job.'
'I gave more blood, sweat and tears to that organization than any player that'll ever come through there,' Slater said Wednesday afternoon from Southern California, 'so that my running backs and quarterbacks could be successful without a pat on the back.
'But that was just the nature of the business for all us old heads.'
That's why Slater is grateful for what Buffalo Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins has done. Dawkins is credited with launching the campaign that culminated in the NFL creating its Protector of the Year Award, given to the best offensive lineman.
Dawkins broached the subject publicly in January. He wondered out loud why offensive linemen can't be crowned in some fashion like quarterbacks win passing titles, running backs win rushing titles, edge rushers win sack titles. After all, the most dangerous pass rushers generate beaucoup votes for Defensive Player of the Year, yet the people who are paid to thwart them garner zero attention for Offensive Player of the Year.
Fitting that Dawkins became a catalyst. He and anonymity don't jibe.
'Before the draft, when I first was coming out of Temple,' Dawkins said Wednesday, 'I had a marketing lady tell me that I was unmarketable because I was an O-lineman. My personality is so huge, I said, 'We've got to capitalize on that. What can we do?'
'When she said there wasn't much, I took that as a shot. Unmarketable? All right.'
Dawkins already proved that notion wrong years ago, but this week his impact on the NFL became truly historic. He inspired a couple of retired stars now working in national media, Andrew Whitworth and Jason Kelce, to run with the torch.
They were unsatisfied with their highest possible individual honor being an All-Pro selection. Heck, punters and gunners get that honor. Slater's son, former New England Patriots special-teams ace Matthew Slater, was voted All-Pro twice despite starting three career games. Jackie never got an All-Pro nod in his 20 amazing seasons. Slater, after blocking for Walter Payton at Jackson State, helped seven different Rams backs rush for over 1,000 yards, including Eric Dickerson, Jerome Bettis and Charles White.
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'It's good to see guys like Dawkins standing up and speaking out,' Slater said. 'The average guy can't make the sacrifices to go out and humble yourself, to take a backseat to these other players, when you know your No. 1 job is a support role. You just have to have a lot of self-motivation and pride about it.'
Now, the best offensive lineman will BE recognized every year. The NFL Players Association began honoring a top offensive lineman from each conference in 1969, but discontinued its award after the 1999 season. Slater won the NFC side four times, achievements that were cited when selectors sent him to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001. His brethren have been without a similar benefit for a quarter century.
Evaluations will require trained eyes and analytics that go deeper than traditional stats. Flip over the trading card for an offensive lineman and you'll see why they're difficult for even hardcore fans to judge. Their card backs are essays that look more like homework (tl/dr) compared to those easy-to-digest stat lines with yards, catches, touchdowns, sacks and interceptions.
'A guy who deals with these very athletic defenders doing very athletic things, taking off and running here and there, using brute force,' said Slater, 'we've got to capture all that momentum, deal with it, displace it and keep it away from the quarterback or open the hole for a running back.'
Whitworth and Kelce will sit on a six-member panel that includes former O-linemen Orlando Pace, Will Shields, LeCharles Bentley and Shaun O'Hara. The NFL announced candidates will be graded on metrics, impact, leadership, durability and strength of opponent.
Dawkins has been selected to four straight Pro Bowls, but hasn't been voted All-Pro yet. He declared this past season was his best and isn't ashamed to say he should have garnered more consideration for the top honor — or at least what the top honor used to be.
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Besides, Slater showed you don't need any of those to make a lasting impact on the vocation, and on Wednesday wanted a message relayed to Dawkins:
'Tell Mr. Dawkins I watch him. I watch his work. I think he's doing a fantastic job, and he's doing a great job of being a pro and having everybody know that, 'Hey, there's great players playing this offensive line position.' He's doing us old heads proud.'
Back in Orchard Park, N.Y., Dawkins reflected on the movement he began and how it had come to a gratifying conclusion this week. A bouncing-off-the-walls kid overcame a life of petty crime and a stutter to have NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's ear and the respect of his predecessors with bronze busts in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
'It's very cool that my domino piece makes noise when it falls,' Dawkins said. 'Just to be a regular kid from Jersey, go to Temple, be a second-round pick to Buffalo, to having a voice so big that it reaches all 32 teams and then some.
'This is a part of my legacy now, and I stand on it.'