NFL
New York Giants 2024 Training Camp Preview: IDL Dexter Lawrence
Following the retirement of Rams’ interior defensive lineman Aaron Donald, the conversation for the NFL’s best interior defensive lineman has opened up. In that conversation, you will often see Chris Jones, Quinnen Williams, and New York Giants nose tackle Dexter Lawrence come up.
I think it’s Lawrence, and while the conversation could be entertained for the other two, one thing remains an undeniable fact: Dexter Lawrence II is the best nose tackle in the NFL.
A key piece of new Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s success with the Tennessee Titans was having a dominant force on the interior of the defensive line in Jeffery Simmons. The biggest difference between the two is that Simmons has played more of a 3-technique role, with Teair Tart playing the nose.
This feels like a situation where the defensive coordinator is more likely to adjust to use Lawrence more creatively rather than ask Lawrence to play differently. Schematically, Lawrence may be bumped more into a hybrid role on the interior, but even in 2023, he spent 25.2 percent of his snaps playing that 3-technique.
Height: 6-4
Weight: 340 lbs.
EXP: 6 Years
School: Clemson
How Acquired: D1-19
Last season, there wasn’t a single nose tackle in the NFL that played to Lawrence’s level. The reasoning is very simple: As I mentioned before, Lawrence is the best nose tackle in the NFL, and it’s not even up for a genuine debate.
As a pass-rusher, Lawrence had the seventh-most pressures for an interior defensive lineman and the most for a nose tackle with 65 pressures. The closest pure nose tackle (more snaps at nose than any other defensive alignment) to Lawrence’s pressure number? Chicago Bears’ Andrew Billings with 23 pressures.
Given how multiple defenses are, it’s rare to see pure nose tackles anymore but having a dominant one allows defenses to control the interior. Lawrence established himself as the top nose tackle in the NFL with his pass-rushing ability and run-stuffing consistency.
Lawrence was the second-most double-teamed defensive tackle in the NFL and the second-highest pass-rush win rate.
Lawrence signed a contract extension just last year that was a four-year contract worth $90 million with $46.5 million fully guaranteed. While Lawrence’s contract will allow the Giants to essentially make this a year-by-year deal after the 2025 season, the cap hits taken on for 2024 and 2025 would simply be too large to justify even if his play takes a big dip.
Lawrence’s cap number for 2024 will be $14,575,776, taking up 5.6% of the Giants cap this year. If the Giants were to release Lawrence this year, they would clear no cap while taking on a near-$20,000,000 dead cap penalty.
Next season, the Giants would be able to release Lawrence to free $10,753,000 in cap while still eating a dead cap penalty of $13,381,600. It’s the pay of an elite contract for an elite player that there’s no real doubt about his talent, but even if there were, he’s a financially safe player.
The expectation should be for Lawrence to do what he does best: arrive, dominate, leave. On the interior for Bowen, Lawrence’s role may change to have him play more of that 3-technique role, maybe moving up to 33-40% of his snaps as a 3-technique, but he should realistically live as a nose tackle.
Especially considering the raw power that he possesses as both a pass-rusher and run-stuffer, it wouldn’t shock me to see Lawrence operate as a key part of the game plan on stunts. On stunts, one player needs to engage with an offensive lineman at a slanted angle so that another defensive lineman can loop around them to get a free run into the backfield.
Under Wink Martindale, the Giants ran some stunts but spent most of their time blitzing to just overwhelm offensive lines. With Lawrence operating as the disruptor on stunts, it would be clear space for either Brian Burns or Kayvon Thibodeaux to use their elite athleticism to cause chaos.
The pass-rush plan will be much more creative and deep than under Martindale. Combine that with the addition of Burns to the defensive front, and it’s possible that Lawrence has less individual production, but the unit as a whole should be more productive.
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