An infectious personality and play style

When Dotson first arrived in Los Angeles, offensive lineman Alaric Jackson at the time said Dotson was quiet and laid back and someone who kept to himself, but would still crack jokes from time to time. Given the circumstances, though – being traded to a new team just as he was entering the final year of his rookie contract – it makes sense why Dotson would carry a somewhat-reserved demeanor as he got settled and got to know his new teammates.

Gradually showing more of his genuine personality has benefitted the Rams. Watch the way those teammates celebrate with Dotson after a touchdown or as he pulls and makes a big block, and it’s easy to see how it positively impacts the rest of the roster.

“It means everything to me, because I know K-Dot,” running back Kyren Williams told us on Inside Rams Camp this week. “K-Dot’s a guy that’s going to go out there, button them straps up, put them shoulder pads on and go to work. He has an enjoyment about him, how he goes about his work which makes him fun to be with. He’s always laughing, always got a smile on his face, you never see him taking things too serious. I want to be more like K-Dot when it comes to things like that, because he knows he’s the best, he knows he’s a dawg, he knows he’s a beast. He just goes out there and has fun while doing it. For me, it makes my job easier as a running back, because I know if I press his block, his guy’s not going to get off. I just continue to keep working with him and continue to keep allowing him to be the person that he is so that he can elevate all of us.”

Dotson has an inherent understanding of how contagious keeping that energy up can be. It could be a confidence-boosting comment to a teammate who needs a boost in a critical moment in a game. Or, another teammate seeing you excited, and realizing they need to get on the same level as you.

“You never want to be below the hype guy,” Dotson said. “So I want to get bring that energy up for the offense. Defense always has that energy, because they’re just, when they make a play, they can celebrate. Offenses aren’t used to celebrating the little things, and that’s kind of what I want to get us going, because it demoralizes another team, too. When a defense is getting sacks and celebrating every (play), and when an offense sees that, you get mad. If you’re not a guy that can mentally stay in the game, you checking out. Offense can be the same way – five- or sixty-yard runs, we need to celebrate those, man. We need to keep that energy up the whole time.”

Veteran offensive lineman Rob Havenstein has seen Dotson’s growth and increased comfort first-hand starting alongside him at right tackle each of the last two seasons. What stands out about Dotson to Havenstein is how he’s “unapologetically himself,” like the way Dotson uses the aforementioned sunglasses to express his personality.

“That’s legitimately him,” Havenstein told theRams.com. “The Buffs and the Cartiers he wears – you can kind of see it on the intros, he’s got the Buffs on, you’re like, ‘who’s this fake tough guy?’ But like, no, that’s just legitimately him. He’s showing up to dinners, 10 o’clock at night, he’s got that on, he’s got the buffs on. He’s got different pairs. Shoot, he’s got “Yu-Gi-Oh!” on one of his pairs, and he’s just like, ‘yeah, man, I like Yu-Gi-Oh!’ You’re like, man, that’s awesome. He’s just out there, and that’s who he is.

“Like I said, he’s unapologetically himself. He’s got swag, he’s got charisma, and he’s a heck of football player.”