Former Clemson star Dexter Lawrence is coming off another outstanding season last year, when he collected his third straight Pro Bowl selection after also earning Pro Bowl honors in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
There’s no doubt that Lawrence has established himself as a dominant presence on the interior of the New York Giants’ defensive line. But just how good has Lawrence been?
Steve Palazzolo of The 33rd Team recently laid out who he sees as the best NFL player at every position on the defensive side of the ball, and he named Lawrence as the league’s top nose tackle.
On the “Check the Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson” podcast, Palazzolo provided an impressive stat that shows how much of a force Lawrence has proven to be in the past few years, especially relative to his NFL peers.
“Since 2022, nose tackle pressures, taking out negated plays, Dexter Lawrence has 103. Vita Vea [of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers] is number two with 23,” Palazzolo said. “Vita does align 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, 10 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 enjoying a stellar 2024 season before he saw it end early with an elbow injury on Nov. 28 against the Dallas Cowboys. In his 12 games this past season, the 6-foot-4, 340-pounder posted a career-high 9.0 sacks and 8.0 tackles for loss while also recording 44 total tackles, 16 quarterback hits, a forced fumble and one pass defended.
With his latest Pro Bowl nod last season, Lawrence became the first Giants player to be voted to three straight Pro Bowls since safety Landon Collins from 2016-18. If he hadn’t suffered a season-ending injury, he could have very well earned his third consecutive AP All-Pro selection as well.
Now entering his seventh NFL season in 2025, Lawrence has racked up 310 total tackles, 36 tackles for loss and 30 sacks in 92 career games (85 starts) since being selected by the Giants in the first round (17th overall) of the 2019 draft.
At Clemson, Lawrence was a three-time All-ACC selection and a first-team All-American in 2018. He entered the NFL Draft after completing his three-year Clemson career (2016-18) with 162 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, 43 quarterback pressures, five pass breakups, a caused fumble and three recovered fumbles over 40 games (36 starts).