AFC East Notes: Bills, Wilkins, Hilton, Pats
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.
AFC Staff Notes: Ravens, Bengals, Steelers
The Ravens saw David Blackburn get promoted into their director of college scouting position recently. According to Ravens staff writer Ryan Mink, Blackburn was not alone in his promotion. This week, Baltimore announced promotions for Mark Azevedo, Houegnon Attenoukon, Patrick McDonough, and Derrick Yam, as well.
Azevedo was promoted to assistant director of player personnel in his 18th year with the team, assisting the Ravens’ two directors of player personnel, Joe Hortiz and George Kokinis. Attenoukon, known in the clubhouse as “Q,” is entering his sixth year with the team and was promoted to a full-time role as an area scout. The area he will cover has not yet been determined. McDonough is becoming the team’s northeast area scout. Yam was promoted from his role of quantitative analyst into the position of manager of data and decision science. Yam conducts data-based player evaluations for both college and professional players. He builds statistical models from a variety of data sources designed to assess player value, performance, and development.
Here are a few other notes concerning staff moves in the AFC North, starting with the reigning division champions:
- ESPN’s Ben Baby reports that Bengals scout Trey Brown has been promoted to senior personnel executive. Brown drew lots of hiring interest in the most recent job cycle, including an interview for the Raiders’ open general manager position, so the promotion is likely a preventative maneuver to keep him in-house.
- The Steelers recently lost pro scouting coordinator Brandon Hunt to the Eagles, and, according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic, the team will also be without college scouting coordinator Rick Reiprish in the upcoming season. Ed Bouchette, also of The Athletic, added that long-time scout Bruce McNorton will no longer be with the Steelers either. McNorton had been a part of the Pittsburgh franchise for 22 years. The mass exodus is not a huge surprise as Omar Khan replaces Kevin Colbert as general manager. Khan recently hired Sheldon White to replace Hunt, so he’ll likely be looking for candidates to fill in the vacancies left by Reiprish and McNorton, as well.