The Cincinnati Bengals acquired Dexter Lawrence this offseason as the centerpiece of their defensive revamp. The dividends are being paid out early in training camp.
"Honestly, he's been terrorizing practice," wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase told Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports. "I can honestly say that."
Lawrence is coming off a ½-sack season, but that stat belies his ability to impact the middle of a defense, both against the run and pass. The 28-year-old eats up blockers, freeing others to make tackles, and can discombobulate backfields.
One reason the Bengals were willing to trade the No. 10 overall pick for Lawrence was that they weren't going to draft a player who could immediately step in and upgrade the entire unit as the veteran would.
Cincinnati's offense can feel it.
"When you have a man as big as (Lawrence), the quick twitch and the speed they're able to play with just disarms you," Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher told Epstein. "I don't know what you do to counteract that other than you just really focus on the technique of this interior line and you got to be really cognizant of what types of schemes you're trying to run and how often that guy's truly one-on-one. Running sideways and backward at quarterback in the NFL is a good way to not play very long. So it's a problem."
Defenses are almost universally ahead of offenses at this stage of training camp. It's simply a product of the install process. But Lawrence's impact on how the Bengals are preparing is different. Cincy offensive players believe facing a behemoth like Lawrence every day will make them better come Week 1.
"There's certain guys in this league like Dexter who wreck a whole game plan, and you have to do everything around them and you change everything you're doing," guard Dalton Risner said. "You're going to have to change how you block against certain guys. He's just making us do it really early and really often."
