In NFL awards, offensive linemen always come up empty. No offensive lineman has ever won NFL MVP, Offensive Player of the Year or Offensive Rookie of the Year. It’s extremely rare for any offensive lineman even to get a single vote for any of those awards.
Bills offensive lineman Dion Dawkins wants to change that. Dawkins said he is working on lobbying the NFL to start an Offensive Lineman of the Year award to recognize the best in the game at the most overlooked position.
“Offensive linemen don’t have awards for being great,” Dawkins said. “There’s not a protector of the year award. I’m knocking at so many doors now to get this award going. I’m gonna spearhead it and make sure it gets done before I’m done playing. Because there’s so many greats, and we have great quarterbacks, we have great running backs, we have rushing titles, we have quarterback passing titles. All those titles are reflections on the o-linemen, which are the protectors.”
In college football the Outland Trophy for the best lineman in the country, as well as the Rimington Trophy for the best center, and some conferences have their own awards for offensive linemen. But the NFL has nothing of the kind. Dawkins’ idea is a good one.
Read the full article here
