Buffalo Bills tackle Dion Dawkins is no stranger to confrontations, getting into some scraps with opponents during his NFL career — and often paying dearly for it.
But Dawkins avoided further NFL punishment for his latest scuffle, with the league announcing on Saturday that he did not face a fine for a postgame incident following the team’s win over the Carolina Panthers.
NFL’s Final Decision on Dion Dawkins
Though the Bills had relatively little trouble in their 40-9 win over the Panthers, Dawkins found trouble after the game when he got into a Panthers defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson. Video shared on X by reporter Kimberly A. Martin showed Robinson being held back by teammates as players game together.
Dawkins appeared to throw a hat toward Robinson during the incident, though the two didn’t seem to have any direct contact.
The NFL decided that the incident did not rise to the level of further punishment. The league on Saturday announced fines for all Week 8 games, but there were no Bills or Panthers players among them.
Dawkins addressed the incident this week, saying in an interview on Cleats and Convos with Deebo Samuel that he was having a friendly conversation with another Panthers player when Robinson confronted him.
“Emotions are high,” recalled Dawkins. “I’m helping your tackle with tips on how to play tackle, and you coming up and are talking crazy and in my face. Like, listen, bro, how you gonna walk up to somebody with the mindset, like, oh, I’m finna fight this dude and then walk up to my face and say anything?”
Dawkins added that he couldn’t understand why Robinson would want to start a fight after the game had already ended.
“Dudes in this league are corny,” said Dawkins. “They are corny, bro. Dudes be corny, Deebo. If someone said to you during the game, ‘Fight me after the game.’ You gonna look at him and be like, this ain’t the WWE, this ain’t UFC. What are you talking about?”
Veteran Bills Player Has Faced Fines Before
Dawkins has been in trouble with the NFL before in his career, taking a pair of five-figure fines for on-field scraps. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and later fined $11,255 last year after he got into a confrontation with New York Jets player Quinnen Williams during a break in play last year.
Dawkins seems to have the biggest trouble with the Jets. He was also fined $10,927 for a 2023 incident when he fought with Jets defensive lineman Michael Clemons after the game ended.
Not all Bills players were able to escape punishment. Edge rusher Joey Bosa was fined $12,172 for unnecessary roughness on a play where he tripped Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton to force a sack. Bosa was flagged on the play as well.
The Bills now head into a critical game against the Kansas City Chiefs that could have major playoff implications. The rematch of last year’s AFC Championship game comes at a time when both the Bills and Chiefs have fallen to second place in their respective divisions.
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