DT Dexter Lawrence II Challenges NY Giants Defense to Prove Itself

For the past several months of the NFL offseason, the New York Giants' defense has been inundated with endless positive projections about their potential to be one of the best units in the league this upcoming year.

Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II, one of the team's longest-tenured players and bona fide leaders on that side of the ball, wants to hear nothing about all the outside hype before he and his teammates even step onto the gridiron for the start of training camp and show exactly what they're made of.

"It's exciting, it’s new challenges," Lawrence said following the Giants’ first summer training camp practice of the year. "As a leader, I try to challenge everybody to prove themselves every day, even myself. Prove who we can be.”

That starts with the defensive captain challenging his teammates to be their best selves and not buy into their offseason press clippings.

"Yesterday I challenged the defense,” he said. “They want to talk about our D-line and all this, but we haven’t done anything yet, and we have to come out here every day and improve and get better and challenge each other and just work and be critical and be coachable."

On paper, it's easy to see why many in the media have been making the Giants' defense the talk of the town as they prepare for the 2025 season. 

After making a big splash by selecting Abdul Carter with the No. 3 pick in the draft, they've given themselves a party of four talented pass rushers, including Lawrence, and returning veteran outside linebackers Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux, to wreak absolute havoc on any opposing offense they'll face.

The front office also provided defensive coordinator Shane Bowen with an upgrade in depth along the interior of the defensive front, tabbing some experienced free agents and rookie Darius Alexander, also in the draft, leaving the group with a bunch of new pieces to improve the pass rush and run response in the trenches this fall.

The Giants' defense was already on an upward trajectory last season before untimely injuries began to take their toll on several important players, including Lawrence himself, who suffered a season-ending elbow injury in Week 13.

They were among the highest in sacks accumulated (45 total in 2024) and finished in the top 13 teams in pass rush win rate, thanks to their three main pressure pieces combining for 23 of those quarterback takedowns, with Lawrence leading the way with a career-high nine that was stunted by his unfortunate ailment.

Still, one of their biggest issues was slowing down the run and winning the possession battles on early downs that often define the success of a given team. That, and the Giants' overall struggle to compete, was something the star defensive lineman stressed to his teammates: they needed to have a sense of urgency if they wanted to meet the larger expectations this season.

"It is a very important thing to me, and that's my challenge," Lawrence said about his desire to help the Giants win more games. 

"I didn't hold back meeting with the defense, letting them know if we want to get where we want to go, and that's the Super Bowl, that's the ultimate goal, we got to prepare for that every day. We got to train like that every day. We got to recover like that every day. You got to meet like that every day.

"It's a process. Everything's a process and you have to enjoy it,” he continued. “And if you get bored, find something, challenge yourself, like What can I work on today? What can I improve today? And that's the challenge, and that's where you see greatness, and that's when you get in the flow state."

Lawrence shared that he had already seen positive signs of the rest of the defense buying into his message of urgency, from both incumbent players like Deonte Banks and Cor’Dale Flott to the young players looking to establish themselves on the Giants' roster in the coming weeks.

The All-Pro gap stuffer wants the entire group to focus on their roles, whatever they might be, and understand the importance of buying into them for the sake of the whole team. 

It's something he said he makes a mental point to do himself, and it has certainly helped him gain the respect of the locker room far beyond his production on the field.

That production has only gotten better with each passing season, to the point where Lawrence has entered the discussion as one of the game's elite defensive tackles, who is severely underpaid. 

Even with his shortened campaign, he still finished eighth among the position group with an 81.4 grade and became a complete issue to deal with on the ground, as he can clog up multiple lanes at a time.

Many people expected Lawrence to excel again in 2025, with the hope of proving to the Giants organization that he is worthy of a long-overdue raise. Still, the veteran quickly dismissed that matter to the background. 

For the time being, it's all about working to get better and earning a reason for the rest of the league to talk about him and his new assembly of talented defenders.

"I do what I do. It will take care of itself. Right now, I just want to win. I know if I do that and I keep being who I know I am, it is all going to take care of itself, and that's all I can do.

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