It’s been a while since the New York Giants have had a truly vocal leader on their defense.
Now, however, star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence has grown into that leader. He’s always had a personality that’s bigger than his sizable frame, and his play has become absolutely undeniable. But now, he’s maturing into a true leader for the Giants’ defense — and probably the team as whole.
Most of the time, the 2019 17th overall pick prefers to lead by example, but he become increasingly willing to speak
his mind. He is, after all, one of the two longest-tenured Giants. He and wide receiver Darius Slayton were both selected by the team in 2019.
“I don’t say much, but I think what I have to say is pretty good and pretty powerful,” he said.
“But I let my play do a lot of talking and I let my work ethic talk and I just let the things I do on the field talk a lot. But if I see something, I’m more comfortable to say something because I have that respect.”
Lawrence called the atmosphere and new challenges around the Giants’ training camp “exciting”. He also spoke about challenging the rest of the defense prior to practice to prove that they actually are as good as they’re believed to be.
“As a leader I try to challenge everybody to prove themselves every day, even myself. Prove who we can be,” Lawrence said. “Yesterday I challenged the defense. They want to talk about our D-line and all this, but we ain’t done anything yet and we have to come out here every day and improve and get better and challenge each other and just work and be critical and be coachable.”
"As a leader, I try to challenge everybody to prove themselves every day. They want to talk about our D-Line, but we ain't done anything yet."
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) July 23, 2025
- Dexter Lawrence pic.twitter.com/SI8kZhHN3d
Lawrence’s career with the Giants has thus far been a frustrating one, marked mostly by losing. He took a leap in his third year, becoming one of the very best defensive tackles in the NFL in his third year, but the team hasn’t followed suit. He has previously said that he was tired of “rebuilding” and ready to start winning. The Giants did indeed win in 2022, but haven’t done much of that since then.
His challenge to the defense is born of the urgency he feels to deliver winning seasons while he’s in the prime of his career.
“It is a very important thing to me,” he said, “and that’s my challenge.
“I didn’t hold back meeting with the defense, letting them know if we want to get where we want to go, and that’s the Super Bowl, that’s the ultimate goal, we got to prepare for that every day. We got to train like that every day. We got to recover like that every day. You got to meet like that every day.”
Lawrence went on to offer the insight that sometimes becoming great means actively looking for things to improve, and finding enjoyment in the work.
“It’s a process. Everything’s a process and you have to enjoy it,” Lawrence said. “And if you get bored, find something, challenge yourself like what can I work on today? What can I improve today? And that’s the challenge and that’s where you see greatness and that’s when you get in the flow state.
“I think just coming out with a purpose, coming out every day with a purpose. When I step in this building, I have a purpose. I’m critical of myself. I make more corrections on myself than the coach make, and I think that’s what I have to do. And to be mentally strong and through all of this because you can go here and you can go here, it is a wave. And to keep rising you have to keep growing. And I’m not afraid to grow. I’m not afraid to get uncomfortable. And I think that’s what makes you special.”
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