Overpaid? Underpaid?
As it often is with sports, we see a signing, our first thought is the number. How much was Dawkins paid? Too much? Too little? Did the team get a solid price tag? Well currently, Dawkins certainly has a big pay day. His four-year deal is worth $60 million overall and has $34M of it guaranteed. with.
According to Spotrac, his $15 million per season yearly average is the fifth-highest in the NFL. Looking through the spectrum of PFF’s grades, Dawkins is overpaid. PFF says he’s slightly above average, but he’s top-five paid for his position. Tough to consider, but the Bills could have paid too much.
But as contracts go… we really don’t know if he was actually overpaid yet, though. The Texans’ Laremy Tunsil is makes an average of $22M per season over the course of his new deal. That’s a hefty price tag higher than the next closest, the Colts’ Anthony Castonzo and his $16.5M average. The Bills didn’t have to get close to that figure and also on the plus side: Dawkins hasn’t miss a game in his three-year career.
Really is what we have to do is wait and see. Yes, Dawkins has a high number now, but down the line… let’s see what happens. How is his contract look year-to-year against the salary cap? Are other left tackles going to surpass his total in coming years? The COVID-19 pandemic is going to have its impact on future salaries, the cap, and things of that nature over the next season or two. Because of this, we’ll have to check back on Dawkins then and see where the league stands to get the full feeling. It could actually be a fantastic deal for Buffalo, we just don’t know yet.