Possibly.
IIRC, Dawkins worked in a power/man/gap blocking scheme in college. The Pats play mostly zone. I'm not saying that he can't make the transition or wouldn't fit eventually, just that it would likely add another complication into his learning the offensive playbook (lots of things to
un-learn first) and further delay his ability to contribute - which often takes about a season anyway.
So, if the Pats are truly desperate for relatively immediate IOL upgrades or backup help, they might be looking for prospects who have already played a lot of zone in college.
OTOH, not all power schemes are night-and-day different from zone schemes. There's some overlap in basic principles and some college teams play a bit of a mix, depending perhaps on how much they run the option, what their QB's and RB's capabilities are, etc.
But that level of detail about prospects is rarely included in the "scouting reports" that we, as fans, get to read. Most of those focus a lot more on measureables, productivity, level of competition and impressions of "talent", etc., and often don't give much thought to the time frame of a prospect's potential future learning curve.
Then, too, it's possible that Scar knows Dawkins from previous seasons' study and believes that he's extremely coachable and a quick-learner, but I have no way of knowing that.
Might all be a moot point, since I've seen Dawkins mostly projected to be selected by the mid 2nd round.
