Giants’ Dexter Lawrence has shot to be NFL sack leader in unusual way

It most likely will not happen because it almost never does.

But with Dexter Lawrence not getting any smaller or weaker or less willing to dominate, there is certainly a chance the best Giants player will accomplish what an interior defensive lineman is not supposed to claim on his résumé.

Big Dex could actually finish this season leading the NFL in sacks.

“He’s on pace for it now, so … he’s doing a great job,’’ inside linebacker Bobby Okereke said Wednesday.

It is one of the many wasteful aspects to this season for the Giants.

They are 2-5 and seemingly headed nowhere, other than to Pittsburgh soon enough for a Monday night meeting with the Steelers.

Tucked inside another losing campaign is one of the best stretches for a defensive player in the history of a franchise that is commemorating its 100th year of existence.

Lawrence is leading the NFL in sacks with nine in seven games.

That puts him ahead of Will McDonald of the Jets (eight sacks), Aidan Hutchinson of the Lions (7.5 sacks but out for the remainder of the season), Trey Hendrickson of the Bengals (7) and Kyle Van Noy of the Ravens (7).

All of these players make a living as edge rushers, which is where sack leaders almost always reside. Lawrence, as a 340-pound nose tackle, is required to control the running game and push the pocket with an interior rush.

Sacks are almost never the bountiful payoff.

Of the 33 players who have led the league in sacks since it became an official statistic in 1982, only three have lined up on the interior: Hall of Famer John Randle (15.5 sacks in 1997), La’Roi Glover (17 sacks in 2000) and future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald.

His 20.5 sacks in 2018 not only led the NFL but also set the standard among interior defensive linemen.

And now comes Dexter Lawrence to make a run at it.

“No, I don’t think anybody ever would suspect a nose tackle to be leading the league in sacks,’’ guard Jon Runyan Jr. said.

With six sacks in the past three games, Lawrence is flirting with rarefied air.

His nine sacks are the most by a Giants player in the first seven weeks of a season since Hall of Famer Michael Strahan had 12.5 in 2001 — the year he broke the NFL record with 22.5 sacks (since tied by T.J. Watt of the Steelers in 2021).

Leonard Marshall had 11.5 sacks in the first seven games for the Giants in 1985.

Lawrence, 26, is on pace for 22 sacks.

“It’s not just me, honestly,” Lawrence said. “It’s the game plans, it’s the DBs covering, it’s the guys outside of me rushing as well. I do what I can when I can. Whenever I get that one-on-one or whenever I got to hustle to a ball — effort plays — is more than what the numbers say that goes along with me getting sacks.”

The sacks are up — Lawrence’s previous career high for a season was 7.5 in 2022 — but mistreating centers and guards is a way of life for a player who is signed through 2027 on a four-year contract worth $87.5 million.

There is no secret what opponents think of him.

Lawrence has been double-teamed on 63.3 percent of his pass-rush snaps this season, according to Next Gen Stats.

That is the highest rate faced by any player (minimum 100 pass rushes) since at least 2018.

“Dexter Lawrence is a problem,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said this week. “He’s a problem in the running game. He’s a problem in the passing game. I think he leads the NFL in sacks but he’s just a dominant, dominant player.”

Thanks mainly to Lawrence, the Giants lead the league in sacks with 31, with Brian Burns (4) and Azeez Ojulari (4) next in line but well behind their massive teammate.

Runyan spent the first four years of his NFL career with the Packers and knew what it was like to go against Lawrence as an opponent.

Experiencing Lawrence as a teammate is more enjoyable.

“Every year looking over schedule, you’re looking and thinking about all the guys you got coming up,’’ Runyan said. “I played the Giants twice with Dexter as my opponent and that was always one of those games that you have circled knowing that you’re going to get one of the best in the business and you’re going to have to bring your A-game when it comes to that.

“But coming here, being on this side, seeing him as more than just a player, as a teammate, as a person, he’s phenomenal in all aspects.’’

Including the aspect no one saw coming: NFL sack leader.

Two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning advanced to the next stage in voting for the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, in a group that includes former Defensive Players of the Year Luke Kuechly and Terrell Suggs, and prolific tight end Antonio Gates.

The Hall announced Wednesday the 50 modern era candidates who advanced from the original list of 167 after voting by a newly created screening committee.

The full selection committee will next reduce the list of nominees to 25 semifinalists in about four weeks.

Then 15 finalists will be picked for the annual meeting before the Super Bowl that will produce the new class.