Formerly a GM candidate, Lake Dawson has not come up on the PFR pages since 2019. But the former NFL wide receiver had remained a key presence in the Bills‘ front office. The longtime Brandon Beane lieutenant, however, is no longer with the franchise. Dawson joined Oklahoma’s staff under new Sooners GM Jim Nagy. The SEC program announced Dawson’s addition as senior assistant GM recently. Dawson, 53, played for the Chiefs from 1994-97, being a regular starter during the back half of Marty Schottenheimer‘s tenure. He has nearly 25 years’ worth of experience on the personnel side, moving from the Seahawks to the Titans to the Browns to the Bills. The Panthers twice interviewed Dawson for their GM job before rehiring Marty Hurney in 2018. Dawson turned down an offer to become the Dolphins’ GM in 2014. The former Tennessee VP of player personnel had been Buffalo’s assistant director of college scouting, but he will follow Joe Schoen in leaving the team for another opportunity.
Here is the latest from the AFC East:
- Dawson’s GM what-if came years before Christian Wilkins turned down the Dolphins‘ offer to stay, but it became easy to see why once the Raiders’ monster offer emerged. Las Vegas gave the standout defensive tackle a four-year, $110MM deal ($57.5MM guaranteed at signing) in March 2024. The Dolphins and Wilkins could not agree on an extension before his contract year, and we heard at the time they were willing to pay him as a top-10 DT. The team is believed to have offered around $18MM per year, per the Herald’s Omar Kelly. Wilkins ended up scoring a whopping $27.5MM per year; the NFL’s second-highest-paid DT benefited from a record-setting cap spike and the Chiefs taking Chris Jones off the market at the 11th hour. The Raiders are still waiting for the deal to pay off, as Wilkins continues to battle a foot injury.
- Connected to several cornerbacks this offseason, the Dolphins still have Jalen Ramsey on their roster. A trade remains expected, however, and a separation would deal a major blow to Miami’s coverage capabilities. Rasul Douglas, Asante Samuel Jr. and James Bradberry have discussed terms with the team this offseason — one that has not yet included Jaire Alexander interest — and the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson indicates Mike Hilton has hovered on the radar as well. Hilton, 31, has held a different role compared to the above-referenced trio; he has been a career-long slot corner. Hilton played out a four-year Bengals deal last season, and while he expressed interest in another Cincinnati deal, nothing developed on that front. The former Steelers and Bengals cover man has played at least 59% of his team’s snaps in each of his eight seasons. He logged a 70% snap rate in 2024, as Pro Football Focus tabbed him as the NFL’s 15th-best CB.
- The Patriots lost Camren Williams to the Broncos last month; the former New England exec is now Denver’s co-director of player personnel. National scout Tony Kinkela will rise into Williams’ old position of college scouting director with the Pats, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer notes. The Pats hired Kinkela from Jason Licht‘s Buccaneers staff in 2022; he now joins director of pro scouting A.J. Highsmith as new Pats scouting heads. The team is also relocating Patrick McDonough from northeast area scout to southeast area scout, per InsidetheLeague.com’s Neil Stratton, and hiring Ekene Olekanma as director of coaching analytics (per ESPN.com’s Seth Walder). Olekanma will come over from the 49ers, where he served as the team’s research and development coordinator. McDonough previously worked with the Ravens.