Matt Citak

Steve Palazzolo: Dexter Lawrence 'is in his own world'

Defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence has been racking up the accolades over the last three seasons, including three straight trips to the Pro Bowl along with numerous other honors.

But how dominant has he really been?

On the "Check the Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson" podcast, Palazzolo highlighted just how much the Giants' lineman has excelled over the last few years.

"Since 2022, nose tackle pressures, taking out negated plays, Dexter Lawrence has 103. Vita Vea is number two with 23," Palazzolo said. "Vita Vea does line up at nose tackle sometimes, I'm saying Dexter Lawrence lines up at nose tackle, which is the hardest place to get pressure, but it's the most detrimental to the offense.

"So it's the hardest place to get pressure because it's easy to double with either guard, but if you get pressure from nose tackle, it's the most detrimental to the offense, and Dexter Lawrence has those games with seven, eight, nine. What did he have, ten pressures against Kirk Cousins' Vikings in the playoffs? No one can do that in the NFL right now. So Dexter Lawrence is in his own world."

Lawrence was in the midst of a career-year before an elbow injury forced him to miss the final month of the season.

The 6-foot-4, 340-pound lineman registered a career-high nine sacks across his first 12 games before the injury. He added 16 quarterback hits, eight tackles for loss, one forced fumble and one pass defensed, as well.

Lawrence was selected to the Pro Bowl for the third straight season, as previously mentioned, and while the injury likely caused him to miss out on a third consecutive AP All-Pro nod, he was voted by his peers to the NFL Players Association All-Pro team.

Lawrence has been voted first-team All-Pro at nose tackle by the NFLPA in all three years of this particular award's existence.

Here are the other players Palazzolo and Monson deemed "the elite of the elite on defense".

• Edge Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns
• DT Chris Jones, Kansas City Chiefs
• DL Dexter Lawrence, New York Giants
• LB Fred Warner, San Francisco 49ers
• CB Patrick Surtain II, Denver Broncos
• S Kyle Hamilton, Baltimore Ravens
• NB Brian Branch, Detroit Lions

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