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Jordan Raanan, ESPN Staff Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It was five games into the Giants’ Dexter Lawrence II experiment at nose tackle when his name was brought to national attention. During his weekly appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show,” then-Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers mentioned Lawrence’s name unprompted.
Rodgers had just seen firsthand the wreckage that the 350-pound Lawrence could do to the interior of an offensive line. He stood out in a New York Giants victory against Rodgers and the Packers during the 2022 season in London.
“They got some studs on the inside. [Lawrence] is a premier player and needs to probably get some more recognition for the ability that he has” Rodgers said. “Talking to our interior three [offensive linemen] they think he’s one of the top guys in the league for sure.”
Three years later, Lawrence has become more widely recognized as one of the best defensive players in the game. He has two All-Pro and Pro Bowl selections on his résumé and is facing double-teams at the highest rate in the league (73.9%). At times, Lawrence has even drawn triple-teams.
This is the respect Lawrence has earned heading into a Monday night matchup for the Giants (2-5) with the Pittsburgh Steelers (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+). Entering Week 8, he led the league with a career-best nine sacks. It’s even more incredible considering he’s playing nose tackle, a position generally associated with run-stopping.
“Best defensive player we’ve played so far,” an NFL general manager told ESPN.
Not defensive lineman or defensive tackle. Best defensive player.
To do it all from the nose tackle position is nearly unprecedented. Nose tackles aren’t supposed to get to the quarterback with that kind of regularity. They’re supposed to be immovable mountains clogging the middle of the defense. Occasionally, they get some push and affect the quarterback.
Except Lawrence is redefining the mold. He leads all players with 12 pressures lined up across the center this season, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. It’s nothing compared to what he did the previous two seasons.
“I don’t think anybody ever would suspect a nose tackle to be leading the league in sacks,” said former Packers and current Giants guard Jon Runyan, one of the interior linemen telling Rodgers how good Lawrence was back in 2022.
Lawrence had 45 pressures when lined up over the center (0- or 1-technique) during his first season as a full-time nose tackle in 2022. He had 39 such pressures last season. Only Seattle’s Jarran Reed has a season with over 30 pressures from the nose tackle position since NFL Next Gen Stats began tracking in 2016.
“He’s like a Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan of nose tackles,” former Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said.
It’s clear Lawrence is in a class by himself, threatening to become the best pass-rushing nose tackle the game has ever seen. Now it’s just a matter of how far he can take it — with double-digit sacks all but a certainty.
MARTINDALE RECALLS WATCHING film when he was hired as the team’s defensive coordinator in 2022 and thinking that Lawrence needed to be the centerpiece of their defense. The best way to do that was to move him to nose tackle.
At the time, Lawrence was a good player. The first-round pick in 2019 out of Clemson was being moved around to play different positions on the line. He had a variety of roles, playing more defensive tackle or end than nose tackle.
The Giants, with Brian Daboll as head coach and Martindale as the defensive coordinator, decided a position change was best. Lawrence would line up primarily as a nose tackle over centers.
It has proved to be the perfect fit for Lawrence, who had nine sacks in his first three seasons combined. He has had 21 sacks in the 2½ seasons since.
“You have that confidence in yourself to where you believe nobody can [block you],” Lawrence said. “You go out and try to prove it every single week.”
The way Lawrence views it, he would’ve been great at any position. It was only a matter of time given his talent and the work he’s put into fine-tuning his craft. He’s big and strong, rarely on the ground, and plays with what coaches like to call “knockback.”
Even more impressive at his size is the athleticism and arm length. He was measured at the combine at 6-foot-4, 343 pounds with an 84-inch wingspan that was in the 94th percentile for his position according to MockDraftable.
“There is not many 343-pound, 35-inch-armed [players] that have the ability to impact the pocket like him,” one personnel executive who has watched Lawrence play this season said.
Arm length was one of the differentiators that several coaches and executives noted when it came to Lawrence’s dominance. He has also worked relentlessly on hand placement, strength and countermoves to combat how opposing linemen were trying to block him. He has learned how to rush, how to set up offensive linemen and have a feel for quarterback movement.
The results have shown. Lawrence not only leads the league in sacks, but he has a more than respectable 31% run block win rate. He’s a complete, all-around player nobody wants to face alone.
“He can’t be blocked,” outside linebacker Brian Burns said. “He can’t be blocked one-on-one.”
That is the thing with Lawrence. He has proved capable of displacing 300-plus-pound men and driving them several yards deep into the backfield in a matter of seconds. Lawrence used his long, powerful arms to move Philadelphia Eagles center Cam Jurgens 9 yards deep into the backfield in 2.5 seconds before pulling down quarterback Jalen Hurts for his ninth sack of the season in Week 7.
Dexter Lawrence. DPOTY. He has 9 sacks on the season as a nose tackle. Leads the NFL. Unreal talent. pic.twitter.com/hZSUtM7U8u
— Anthony Rivardo (@Anthony_Rivardo) October 20, 2024
It was just the latest example of the threat Lawrence poses — which helps everyone else around him. The Giants’ defensive line, with offseason acquisition Burns and even without Kayvon Thibodeaux (currently on injured reserve with a broken left wrist), is the strength of the team. New York leads the league with 31 sacks.
Teams have tried to counter Lawrence’s dominance by using guards to help the center. He has seen running backs start to chip and create triple-team situations.
“The reason it’s probably so hard to have that [sack production] is the ability of these offenses to get four hands on him so easily,” Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said. “It is a hard position to get that kind of production just because it does get so crowded in there.”
Lawrence is getting used to it.
“It’s just my world that I’m in now and I embrace it,” Lawrence said. “I accept it.”
THE NOSE TACKLE position has generally been associated with boxy, massive bodies that can’t be displaced. Think Tony Siragusa and Sam Adams with the 2000 Ravens, considered by some the greatest defense of all time. They combined to be 700 pounds of immovable mass, serving as nose tackles for that group. Their job was to occupy blockers and let star middle linebacker Ray Lewis run free and make tackles.
Lawrence is a completely different kind of player. Somehow, the player nicknamed “Sexy Dexy” is bringing glamour to the position. He’s getting to the quarterback and doing his shimmy to celebrate. He even has a national TV commercial that runs regularly during games.
He may be redefining the nose tackle position, but it’s not something that’s going to be easy to replicate.
“There’s not a lot of Dexter Lawrences in this world, so I don’t know,” Burns said. “I mean, he might be able to inspire some other cats to work on their pass rush as far as the nose tackle position, but to do it how he’s doing it? I think he’s pretty much a one of a kind. You don’t really see too many of those. I can’t even name somebody that’s similar.”
The Rams’ Kobie Turner had success as a rookie rushing out of the nose-tackle spot, but he’s been used more as a 3-technique defensive tackle this season now that the legendary Aaron Donald retired. Javon Hargrave had close to a 14% pressure rate (similar to what Lawrence had in 2022) while collecting 11.5 sacks and playing some over the center with the Eagles that season. The Jets’ Quinnen Williams had 6.5 sacks when playing over the center in ’22 as well.
Some recent all-time great nose tackles who were mentioned by coaches and executives were former Bills and Bears star Ted Washington, ex-Steeler Casey Hampton and current Tampa Bay Buc Vita Vea. They had a pass-rush aspect to their game but never sniffed double-digit sacks in a season.
This is the beauty of Lawrence. He’s proving he can do it all, from beginning his career as a run stuffer to becoming one of the league’s most dominant pass rushers.
The only problem is it hasn’t led directly to many wins. Lawrence seems destined for his fifth losing season in six years with the Giants. He has said on multiple occasions over the past year he’s tired of the losing. The 2-5 start has even kept him from enjoying being the league leader in sacks.
“We keep losing,” Lawrence said about having appreciation for the accomplishment through seven weeks.
There is more Lawrence and the Giants think can be done.
“Well, he can still add to his pass-rush game,” Giants defensive line coach Andre Patterson said. “He can still add to that. He’s good at it. He can become even greater at it.”
Lawrence is refining some of his pass-rush moves. He’s learning how to handle and work through double- and triple-teams.
“I don’t think I’ve scratched where I can be,” Lawrence said recently.
It’s scary for opposing offensive linemen to consider.