NY Giants DL Dexter Lawrence II Gets Due Respect in New ESPN Survey 

As far as some NFL executives, coaches, and scouts are concerned, New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II is at the top of his position group.

That was the findings of ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, who conducted a league-wide poll in assembling his top-10 lists at various positions. And Fowler’s poll results found that when it came to the defensive line group, it boiled down to three guys at the top and then everyone else.

Lawrence, for what it’s worth, rose from No. 3 last year to No. 1 this year in the opinion of those surveyed. 

“Lawrence's game reached a new stratosphere in 2024, when he expanded his arsenal and added a nine-sack season to an already stellar résumé,” Fowler noted.

"Dominating the run was always on the agenda for Lawrence. He has the balance, power, flexibility, footwork, and acumen to post big sack numbers.”

But, Fowler added, Lawrence hasn’t always finished his sack opportunities, which could be why the 27-year-old earned a vote as low as No. 5 on the 10-man list.

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But that’s not necessarily due to a lack of effort, as it was because Lawrence didn’t exactly have a lot of help around him to discourage some of the double-teams he drew at a 74.5% rate,  which Fowler noted was higher than any other interior lineman. 

Lawrence has come into his own since being converted to more of a full-time nose tackle. In the last three seasons, when that conversion was made, he’s racked up 101 pressures and 21.0 of his 30 career sacks.

Before his season-ending elbow injury last year in Week 12, Lawrence was, at one point, leading the league in sacks among interior defensive linemen. 

One unnamed personnel executive told Fowler that he believed Lawrence might very well have hit double-digit sacks had both Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns been healthy the entire season.

The scary thing moving forward is that with the addition of Abdul Carter, the Giants' defensive pass rush figures to be even more formidable for opponents, who will need to figure out how to account for all the pass rushers. 

This could mean that opponents won’t have the luxury of double-teaming Lawrence as frequently as they have in the past, which in turn could lead to even higher production from arguably the league’s best interior defensive lineman.

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