Giants getting big results from Dexter Lawrence, so far
Dexter Lawrence at Giants training camp on Aug. 14, 2020. Credit: Giants.com/Matthew Swensen
One peculiar thing among many regarding this offseason was it made everyone the same size. Whether you were a tiny cornerback or a mountainous offensive lineman, the virtual nature of the way teams congregated and interacted meant each player was reduced to the same dimension.
Even a 342-pounder like Dexter Lawrence.
Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said he knew Lawrence was a large man, having met him at the 2019 Combine and faced him when he was a coach with the Dolphins last season. But it had been a while since he’d been close enough to the Giants’ defensive lineman to really appreciate that size.
“Everything was on Zoom and he is reduced to a one-inch box,” Graham said. “All of the sudden, you see him walk in [at the start of training camp] and you think ‘This dude is really big.’ ”
He comes with big expectations, too. After all, Daniel Jones isn’t the only first-round pick who saw lots of playing time as a rookie and is looking to make a big jump in Year Two. The Giants also selected Lawrence in the first round in 2019, using capital they acquired in the trade of Odell Beckham Jr.
Lawrence had a fairly successful first season in the NFL, and now the Giants are hoping he can use that to launch himself to the next tier of the league’s defensive linemen.
How good can he be?
“I don’t know what the ceiling will be for him, but I’m just telling you I feel like he is one of the more athletic kids that I’ve seen,” defensive line coach Sean Spencer said. “We are going to prepare him for the season and I’m going to push him to the brink and try to get the best out of him . . . We’re going to put everything together. He listens and he’s a sponge for coaching. We’ll make him get to his potential that way.”
Graham joked that he and Lawrence don’t have similar personalities.
“He is a pleasure to be around,” Graham said. “He has a bubbly personality. I would say that counters my demeanor, which is usually not too bubbly.”
But Graham said he respects that. Maybe almost as much as he respects the athleticism and effort that Lawrence brings to the field. Graham recalled a play last season when Lawrence was lined up at left defensive tackle against the Bucs and they ran a screen pass.
“He plants his foot in the ground, runs down, misses a tackle, he gets there, and he is running on top of the tackle,” Graham said. “It went from a big gain to a shorter gain because of this big man running down the field and it jumped out to me when I got through the tape.”
It’s plays like that which excite the Giants about Lawrence’s future, not only as a player but as a leader on the defense.
“When those big guys are the guys leading with the effort on the field, you can feel that,” Graham said. “You can feel when a 300-pound man is running to the ball carrier. You can feel when a 300-pound man is hitting that check down. The opponents will feel that. That’s exciting to see because I think the guys will feed off of that.”
Notes & quotes: The Giants, like most NFL teams, will have their first fully padded practice on Monday — which also marks just four weeks before their regular-season opener. “I hope to see an improvement and a level of intensity from everyone on the field,” head coach Joe Judge said. “They’re going to be moving fast, we’re going to be intent, we’re going to have an intensity in how we work . . . When the pads go on, you have to see intensity ramp up” . . . The Giants waived WR Cody White.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
