Getty Dion Dawkins warms up on the field before a Buffalo Bills game.
After the offseason drama surrounding Stefon Diggs came to a head with an absence on the first day of mandatory minicamp, Buffalo Bills teammates have closed ranks around their embattled star receiver.
Quarterback Josh Allen spoke in support of Diggs and accused the media of blowing it out of proportion, and now one of the team’s longest-tenured players is making his own statement on the situation. Tackle Dion Dawkins addressed Diggs during an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on July 12, saying he isn’t worried about the situation and ready to move on to training camp.
Bills Tackle Backs Stefon Diggs
Dawkins appeared to echo the statement from Allen, claiming the situation had been overblown by outsiders and emphasizing that the team has already been working through the issues.
“I think it’s so funny how the world is so much more concerned than the actual teammates,” Dawkins told Cowherd. “We don’t care at all because there’s nothing to really be worried about. An example, let’s say you have a conversation with one of your best friends. And let’s say one word is maybe tweaked a little bit where you’re like, ‘Oh, did he just say that?’ whatever, where a group of men who love each other, play with each other, have been around each other for such a long time.”
.@DDawkins66 isn’t worried about Buffalo’s offseason noise:
“I think it’s so funny how the world is so much more concerned than the actual teammates. We don’t care at all.”
Dawkins went on to say that he has no concerns for further tensions as the team prepares to head to training camp later in the month.
“I think that the media has taken things so far left where there’s really — the only way to go [is] right,” he said. “But we have been living on that right side since. And there’s no worries — at all. Zero worries. Stef is Stef, Josh [Allen] is Josh, and they’re brothers, and they love each other.”
Full Participation in Training Camp
Diggs had initially sparked concern when he was seen growing animated on the sidelines during the team’s playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, and fanned the flames with a series of cryptic posts that some saw as a sign of animosity between Diggs and the team. The situation peaked when Diggs was not seen at the first day of minicamp and head coach Sean McDermott said he was “very concerned” about the situation.
But McDermott walked back the statement the following day, saying it was an excused absense after a disagreement during a meeting between Diggs and coaching staff, and Diggs attended the second and final day of minicamp.
In a June 26 appearance on the Rich Eisen Show, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said Diggs’ return the second day is a good sign for the team that whatever issues sparked him to be sent home the first day are likely resolved.
“I was told pretty adamantly that Diggs would not have been there for that minicamp practice on the field had he not felt that they were in a little better of a place than they were before that Tuesday,” Fowler said. “I do sense that things are positive, and I’m told the Bills fully expect him for training camp. They don’t really expect any funny business here; they do believe they have this resolved.”