Giants’ Dexter Lawrence is eager for real, no red t-shirt quarterback hits ahead of preseason finale

Soon enough.

Soon enough, Dexter Lawrence will be able to hit a quarterback, for real.

That quarterback will not be wearing a red “no contact’’ jersey, the chosen attire of most quarterbacks in training camps.

That quarterback will be wearing the purple-themed colors of the Vikings, the Giants’ first opponent of the 2024 season.

That quarterback will be Sam Darnold, and Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and the rest of the pass rushers on the squad will be taking aim at him in the Sept. 8 opener at MetLife Stadium.

Lawrence, of course, was not allowed to touch Daniel Jones or other Giants quarterbacks during practices.

He was not allowed to hit the Lions or the Jets quarterbacks on the practice field.

Lawrence was not expected to play Saturday night, when the Giants closed out their preseason with their annual summer tuneup with the Jets.

The practice scenarios are often difficult for the big guys up front who get paid to put the opposing quarterback on his back.

Get lathered up, go hard then make sure you pull up and do not touch the guy in the pocket. Do not even get too close to him, because proximity can accidentally lead to someone getting knocked to the ground and getting hurt.

Charging at then pulling up near the guy in the red shirt is a challenge for Lawrence.

“Slightly, and I think that’s where you got to train your body to finish even though you can’t hit them,’’ Lawrence said. “Like finish your rush or finish whatever, even if you can’t really tackle the running back, but finish to the back and things like that so you don’t build bad habits. I think that’s the biggest thing that we’ve been focusing on this whole camp is not building bad habits even though we can’t touch the guys in the red or tackle them.’’

Lawrence was not the only member of the starting defense expected to watch from the sideline in the preseason finale.

The past two years, coach Brian Daboll kept his established starting players off the field for the third and final preseason game.

Daboll more than hinted he would take that approach again this year. The Giants’ starters did not play in the preseason opener with the Lions, and most of the starters on defense were on the field for two series in a loss at Houston.

It is not much of a tuneup, but it is what Daboll determined as enough to have the Giants ready for the real thing, coming soon.

“We’ve grown, and I think these two joint practices that we had, it showed us different offensive schemes and different ways O-linemen block and receivers run routes, so I think we prepared,’’ Lawrence said. “And I think we’re taking the rest of these days that we have until the official day to play seriously so I think we’ll be ready.’’

Lawrence can do only so much. As a defensive lineman, it is his job to stop the run and push the pocket, and if he does that, it helps those on the back end, in the secondary.

That group is young and mostly inexperienced and by far the biggest question mark on the defense.

The more Lawrence can do to help, the better.

“Yeah, I think just helping the mentals I think is the biggest thing, taking every day, every rep, every challenge seriously and not getting too high and not getting too low,’’ Lawrence said. “I think it’s a mental thing that’s the biggest thing, and I think if you come outside and you compete and you work hard and you stay honed in on your technique, then it’s not really much that you can mess up on and you learn the defense and how to leverage and things like that, then it should be fairly simple.’’

All this waiting is nearing an end.

This will be Lawrence’s sixth season opener with the Giants.

He knows how to prepare for the first game and for the rigors of a season.

What he had not done yet was start his preparation for the Vikings, though he knew for quite some time that was the first matchup for the Giants.

“I haven’t, no,’’ Lawrence said. “I think this week is — honestly, I care about the guys in my room a lot and I want to see them succeed, so my focus is really helping them be ready for this last preseason game and selfishly for myself is keeping my body ready for the first week. So, I haven’t, no.’’