'I'm unblockable': Inside story of a breakout season for Giants defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Andre Patterson was ready to coach Dexter Lawrence.
This was three years ago, and Patterson was with the Minnesota Vikings, developing defensive linemen and honing the skill sets of pass rushers as one of the top position coaches in the NFL. Lawrence was a Clemson standout, considered a first-round talent as he entered the NFL Draft, and Patterson saw the potential from afar.
"When he came out [into the draft], I really wanted him – really bad," said Patterson, now the defensive line coach of the New York Giants. "I just had to coach him, I definitely wanted to coach him. He could be a premier nose guard in this league, and then watching him here on film in previous years, I thought that was his home spot. Now that we're together, he's bought in."
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Lawrence is showing that potential and more, taking to the coaching of Patterson and Mark Hall, his private defensive line coach, and making the most out of a move to nose guard.
The Giants have been proven wise to have picked up Lawrence's fifth-year option for 2023, and if he keeps playing like this, it would be no surprise if talks begin on a long-term extension.
Lawrence has emerged as one of the most feared interior rushers in football with the Giants, at 6-1, off to their best start since the 2008 season when they were defending Super Bowl champions.
Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley have led the offense. Lawrence is at the front of a defense dubbed by teammate Jihad Ward as "the don't fold team," praised for its toughness and aggressiveness when the game is on the line.
For Lawrence, that starts with a singular mindset: dominate.
"I go into a game, honestly, knowing that I'm not going to be able to be stopped. I do feel like, right now, I'm unblockable," Lawrence told NorthJersey.com, part of the Paste BN Network. "I'm gonna work all my technique. I'm gonna play strong, play fast and just whoop the guy in front of me. That's my mindset. I don't really care what he does. He can change it up mid-game. My whole focus is whooping that guy in front of me, I've always felt that way, but now, it's just showing."
Unleashing the 'Beast'
After the Giants beat Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in London, the four-time NFL MVP quarterback told the "Pat McAfee Show" that his interior linemen offered rave reviews of Lawrence, saying "97" was a "stud" and "deserved more recognition for the ability he has."
Inside the Giants' locker room, that respect has already been gained and given.
"Beast," Giants inside linebacker Tae Crowder said of Lawrence, who turns 25 next month.
Through seven games, Lawrence has matched his career-high in sacks (4.0) and is tied for second in that category among interior defensive linemen with three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald.
The Giants have played the 6-foot-4, 342-pound Lawrence a lot, and they made a concerted effort against the Jaguars to limit his snap count. He has opened eyes with rare athleticism for a man his size when he wowed the Giants by chasing down Carolina's Baker Mayfield from behind in Week 2, decking him short of the sticks, leading defensive coordinator Wink Martindale to say he had never seen a play like that from someone that big.
As Wink Martindale quipped last week, "It’s like, if you had a Rolls-Royce – wouldn't you want to drive it everywhere?”
Unwrapping his gifts
Patterson saw in Lawrence a lot of the traits possessed by former Giants and Vikings defensive lineman Linval Joseph, and he knew he had to build trust in his plan and approach early on. So in their first meeting together, Patterson told Lawrence he was going to slide him a few feet to his left in this defense: over center rather than playing the bulk of his snaps at 3-technique on the outside shoulder of the guard.
And, Patterson promised, Lawrence would break out and thrive if he committed to such a move.
"The longer your arms are, the faster you can get your hands on the center, it makes it easier for you to do with him what you need to do within the defense," Patterson said. "Those are the qualities [Lawrence] has that helps him be a successful player. Because he has long arms, he can get his hands on people before they really have a chance to react. That was the biggest thing I had to work with him on when I first got here is to understand that, these [hands] are gifts. You never go into a game without using your gifts, and he's done an outstanding job with that."
There was no hesitation. The buy-in was immediate, even if the process required Lawrence to adjust to the changes without truly seeing the production until the Giants got through training camp and focused on the regular season.
Clearly, that leap of faith is being rewarded now.
Lawrence trained with Hall and nine other first-round picks at the University of Oklahoma in July, a four-week grind-it-out for some of the premier interior linemen in the NFL. He worked alongside guys like the Packers' Kenny Clark, the Dolphins' Christian Wilkins and the 49ers' Arik Armstead, among others, and the changes in his game were evident.
“When Dex came to our summer camp at Oklahoma, I could see everything was falling into place for him,” Hall told NorthJersey.com. “Just had a different feel to his game. We were studying film together, and he was getting more out of that than he ever had. He was talking a lot more, going in depth with what he was seeing. His football IQ was definitely rising. You could just tell that he was at another level, and I could see [the impact Patterson and the Giants' defensive staff had on Lawrence]. Did I expect this? This is elite stuff.”
'He knows who he is'
Leonard Williams has witnessed his close friend Lawrence's emergence, and he believes the biggest difference is an acknowledgement of who the latter is on the field, where he thrives and maximizing his strengths.
"Dex has always had dominant talent, somebody offenses had to game plan for," Williams said. "But now, he's unlocked something. Playing next to him, seeing him on film, you can just tell that he's confident in who he is, and he knows who he is. That's a big part of becoming a great player: knowing who you are. That takes time. Probably took me five or six years in the league, even after I made the Pro Bowl when I was younger. Once you know who you are, you can really dive into your strengths, and that's been a big thing in his game right now.
"Once you find it, that's when things start clicking and everything rolls from there."
Lawrence made his presence felt on the Jaguars' final drive in Sunday's 23-17 Giants victory.
He sacked former Clemson teammate Trevor Lawrence, and the play would have essentially ended the game if not for a defensive penalty that, in the moment, erased his heroics. Dexter Lawrence read a screen and blew it up, forcing Trevor Lawrence to throw the ball away. Dexter Lawrence split a double team and collected the first of two quarterback pressures on the possession.
The other? It was Dexter Lawrence who put the heat on when Trevor Lawrence threw an interception to Fabian Moreau, only to have that play wiped out by another penalty.
"Being quick, being fast with my hands and jumping on a guy before they can get on me," Lawrence said. "[Patterson has] pushed that on me mentally since we met. Keep playing long. Keep playing strong. Manipulate the shoulders. He slows it down where we're walking through it and it's just making everything click. I can see it after I do what he says, and that just motivates you to repeat it over and over, which is what I'm doing."
Lawrence paused before adding with a smile: "When you do that – that's when you dominate."