What Giants' Lawrence Is Doing Is More Than Unusual. It's Unprecedented

By John Turney 

Nine sacks.

That's how many the NFL leader has at this point, and we're not even halfway through the season. So who is it? Not edge rushers Myles Garrett, Nick Bosa, Maxx Crosby or J.J. Watt and not a quick, elusive defensive tackle like Aaron Donald, either. In fact, it's someone you may not have expected.

It's defensive interior Dexter Lawrence of the New York Giants ... or, "Sexy" Dexy, as he calls himself.

Granted, there have been defensive tackles with a lot of sacks before, but not like this. Lawrence is ... well, different ... and let me explain. It's not that he's a big defensive tackle; it's that he's a huge defensive tackle. Not 300 or 325 pounds. But 342 ... maybe more.

And that's significant.

According to Pro Football Reference, the leading statistical internet website, his nine sacks are the most for any player in NFL history listed at 340 pounds or more. The previous big, big man single-season sack mark (I don't call it a record) was set by 6-foot-2, 345-pound defensive tackle Grady Jackson. who had eight sacks for the Raiders in 2000.

But that was in 16 games. This is through eight. So, what Lawrence has done in a season not yet halfway complete is more than unusual. It's unprecedented.

Pro Football Reference also lists former defensive tackle Dan "Big Daddy" Wilkinson with two seasons of eight sacks each. But it has him at 340 pounds, where his teams' media guides put him at 313 in those years. It's possible that he weighed more -- he certainly did in later seasons -- but probably not 340. Nevertheless, in his top years he still had one fewer sack than "Sexy Dexy" has through eight games.

Now, there's one detail that should be clarified, and it has to do with former Detroit nose tackle Jerry Ball. In 1989, he had nine sacks. Though Pro Football Reference put his final weight at 330 pounds, he was listed at 298 in 1989, or well below Lawrence. Of course, anyone who saw Ball play in the mid-1990s knows that 330-or-so pounds is low. By a lot. Ball was probably 350 or 360 when he left Detroit and never close to Lawrence's mark when he was beyond 340 pounds.

That leaves Dexter Lawrence standing alone.

Nine sacks. At 342 pounds.

If he were to continue at this pace, he'd wind up with 19 sacks for the season, or 1-1/2 short of the bar for a defensive tackle, set by -- who else? -- Aaron Donald. Nevertheless, every sack Lawrence produces over the next nine games pushes him farther ahead of the game's mammoth defensive linemen and separates him from those 340-pound nose tackles who had to be removed from the field on passing downs.

Dexter Lawrence plays all three downs, and that's what makes him remarkable.

Yes, there is more to pass rushing than just sacks, and, yes, there is more to Lawrence than just sacks. Over the last several years, he was among the NFL leaders in pressures among interior defensive linemen. Per Pro Football Focus, he ranked 14th in pressures in 2021, second in 2022, tied for fourth in 2023 and third so far this year. That means he creates as many sacks for linemates as they do for him.

Somewhere John Madden must be smiling. He loved big linemen, but he loved HUGE linemen even more. Can you imagine what he'd say about one of his so-called B.U.B.B.A.s (Brotherhood United of Bad Bodies of America) topping the league in sacks this far into a season?

He'd be going bonkers. 

Were Madden still with us, "Sexy Dexy" would be an All-Madden regular every year. Plus, every time Madden was involved with the broadcast of a Giants' game, he'd marvel at what Lawrence is doing this season.

As we all should.