Dexter Lawrence has taken game to new level in Giants' turnaround

PHILADELPHIA — No matter how you look at it, the Giants have had a successful season. Try finding early prognostications — anything from preseason, really — that suggested they would be playing Saturday night in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

Still looking?

There are hugely important players who have taken significant steps forward under this coaching staff, including offensive stalwarts Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley and Andrew Thomas. There are unheralded players who have become meaningful contributors, including the receiving corps, which lacks a true No. 1 wideout. Since arriving in early November, Isaiah Hodgins has become a trustworthy target for Jones and emerged as a top option.

In a season like this, there are many who deserve praise.

The emergence of Dexter Lawrence has been something for the Giants to behold.

He has impressed his teammates, including fellow defensive lineman Leonard Williams.

“He’s doing things that I’m just like, ‘I’ve never seen any other D-tackle in this area do that.’ It’s like he’s a one-of-a-kind type of player, a generational player, in my opinion,” Williams said.

One of the early moves by the Joe Schoen/Brian Daboll administration was to franchise- tag Lawrence, whose game features a unique combination of size and speed. This year, he showed himself to be much more than a run-stuffer. His 7.5 sacks provide proof.

“He’s really even-keeled, same guy every day, which you appreciate for that position,” Daboll said. “Hard worker. Good teammate. Nothing really rattles him. I think he’s been through a lot of different things in his career, and I think players look to him because he is that consistent voice, consistent messaging, consistent player [with] how he practices. I think consistent is probably the best word to use.”

Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale has called Lawrence the “centerpiece of the defense.” Under this coaching staff, his potential seems almost endless.

In the Giants’ Wild Card win at Minnesota, the defense held the Vikings to 61 yards on the ground. Lawrence was at the center of it all, making six tackles and getting four quarterback hits and eight pressures.

“I was amazed at that game,” Martindale told Newsday about Lawrence’s performance in the Wild Card round. “That’s the best I’ve ever seen a defensive tackle play. And I told him that after the game on the plane, and I said the same thing when I saw him Monday morning. It was unbelievable. And Leo played really well, which helped Dex. Sometimes [opponents] were triple-teaming Dex when Leo wasn’t in there.”

Lawrence has blossomed in his fourth season and under this coaching staff. He is a first-time Pro Bowler and was the first-team nose tackle on the NFLPA’s inaugural Players’ All-Pro team.

“It does mean more,” Lawrence said last week when he received the honor from the players. “It’s people who know the game and respect the game and understand it. I think that’s the best kind of recognition, for your peers to vote on you.”

Lawrence leads all defensive tackles with 62 quarterback pressures this season (including playoffs), and the 98 combined pressures between him and Williams are the most among all interior line duos, according to Next Gen Stats.

Lawrence’s eight pressures at Minnesota set the Next Gen Stats era record for pressures by a defensive tackle in a playoff game. Williams finished with seven, tied for second-most with the Rams’ Aaron Donald in last year’s Super Bowl.

Lawrence led the Giants during the regular season with a career-high 7.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss and 28 quarterback hits.

“I think it’s all credit to Dex,” Martindale said. “He had a really good offseason, he was here all during the installs, he’s smart, I think he enjoys playing in this defense and I said it when I took the job here that he should be a Pro Bowler. You could just see it in the kid himself. Then after I got to know him, I could’ve guaranteed you he’s going to be that type of player because of how much he loves football, how much he loves his teammates. He’s selfless and he’s very accountable to everybody in the room.’’

Lawrence could command a new contract this offseason. The $12.4 million that he is due in 2023 under the tag seems like a bargain these days.

“Every great defense has a centerpiece,’’ Martindale said. “You go back and look at the defense that we’re building with the great defenses of the past, they always have a great centerpiece. And he has definitely become the centerpiece of our defense and I think it’s awesome. I am so happy for him, proud of him, because he’s a good person, he’s smart and he’s worked his tail off. I think it’s great when you see a player succeed who puts as much work in as he has.”

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.