Many fans of the Buffalo Bills have noticed a slimmed down version of Dion Dawkins this season. The Shnowman, as he likes to be called, dropped forty pounds this offseason and had to relearn how to play left tackle a little because of it, but he’s happy with the results.
“With losing 42 pounds as a lineman, I’m telling you, it’s kind of a gift and a curse. I’m almost like a tank. When you’re a tank and you’re used to running through buildings and walls and going over things and ‘I did that easy’ and now you’re forty pounds less and you’re like ‘Oh, it took an extra gear to get through it all.” It feels great.
“I feel like I look better. I feel better. I am able to move around quicker. In the profession of perfecting your body, I decided to drastically change my body so now I’m trying to re-perfect this new body that I have.”
The Bills didn’t tell Dawkins to get lighter in the offseason. Already an NFL Top 100 player and a multi-time Pro Bowler, the veteran says they left it up to him what shape he would come into camp with and how to reshape his body in the offseason. In addition to boxing and walking five miles a day in a sauna suit bag, he would drink more than two gallons of lemon water and cut his food intake to one meal a day.
“I talked to the strength staff [of the Bills]. It was just more so like ‘What should I be eating so I’m not hurting myself’ because I was losing so much weight. They kind of got me to the right protein amount and what I should not be eating.“
The protein was lean — either one piece of chicken of two pieces of salmon — and he threw in a handful of broccoli, too.
“And I’m telling you, in the beginning it was hard, but once you get through the first week it’s just ‘I don’t wanna eat and do anything else but drink two gallons of lemon water and eat a piece of grilled chicken and I don’t even care about anything else.‘“
Dawkins says that while it’s fluctuated a little but, he’s been able to consistently idle in the 330 to 340-pound range. He thinks that is going to help elongate his career after turning 32 in April.
“The overall goal was I want to play for as long as I can and to take a little bit off your body, it might help you. So I was just trying to figure out what really helped and what didn’t. With locking into training and understanding that you’re in the course of the gauntlet of training, just diving in, and when I dove all in for that month and a half to two months, it was just like I was training for a UFC fight. It felt like I was just cutting weight every day.”
You can watch the full interview with Dawkins here, including some conversation about Polaris and Call of Duty that was really fun:
Dawkins was made available to Buffalo Rumblings through his partnership with Polaris, Call of Duty’s official off-road vehicle partner.
The addition of the Polaris DAGOR to Call of Duty highlights a different side of Polaris innovation, showcasing the company’s military and government capabilities alongside its recreational powersports portfolio. The DAGOR marks the latest milestone in Polaris’ ongoing collaboration with Call of Duty, following the introduction of RZR Pro R in 2024 and Sportsman XP 1000 in 2025. What began with vehicle integrations has grown into a broader collaboration spanning gaming, consumer engagement and real-world activations.
DAGOR is a natural fit for Modern Warfare 4. Designed for rapid deployment, maneuverability, modularity and durability in demanding environments, it brings authentic tactical capability to the game while introducing players to a vehicle built for mission-focused mobility.
The partnership helps tell a broader Polaris story. Polaris is not only a leader in recreational powersports, but also develops military and commercial off-road vehicles designed for mission-focused mobility and real-world applications.
There is a strong element of pride in what DAGOR represents for Polaris – a company founded in 1954 and headquartered in Minnesota, with deep American roots and a history of engineering vehicles built to perform in challenging environments.
