Player
Dexter Lawrence
DL · Giants
Dexter Lawrence: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
7 seasons, 30 career sacks from the interior — a back-end-of-the-line elite who has graded up every year.
TrendLawrence by season (regular season + playoffs)
| Season | Team | Tackles | Sacks | QB Hits | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | NYG | 35 | 2.5 | 9 | 3 |
| 2020 | NYG | 48 | 4.0 | 10 | 6 |
| 2021 | NYG | 52 | 2.5 | 11 | 5 |
| 2022 | NYG | 70 | 7.5 | 32 | 8 |
| 2023 | NYG | 48 | 4.5 | 21 | 7 |
| 2024 | NYG | 41 | 9.0 | 16 | 8 |
| 2025 | NYG | 30 | 0.5 | 8 | 4 |
The arc is 2022 breakout, 2024 peak, 2025 step-back. As a 2019 first-rounder out of Clemson, Lawrence took three years to crack double-digit pressures, then exploded in 2022 with 32 QB hits and 7.5 sacks — All-Pro territory for an interior DL.
2024 was the career-best line: 9.0 sacks, 8 TFL, 41 tackles — and he did it in just 12 games (calf injury cost him 5). 2025 has been a quieter year (0.5 sacks through 16 games), the kind of dip that follows a heavy contract and double-team workload.
Sacks per season
| Season | Sacks |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 2.5 |
| 2020 | 4 |
| 2021 | 2.5 |
| 2022 | 7.5 |
| 2023 | 4.5 |
| 2024 | 9 |
| 2025 | 0.5 |
4th in the QB-hits-among-interior-DL race over 2022-2024 — only Chris Jones, Quinnen Williams, and Buckner ahead.
ComparisonInterior DL pass rush, 2022-2024 (3-year window)
| Player | Sacks | QB Hits | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Jones | 34.5 | 95 | 43 |
| Quinnen Williams | 23.5 | 66 | 31 |
| DeForest Buckner | 22.5 | 57 | 30 |
| Dexter Lawrence | 21.0 | 69 | 23 |
| Cameron Heyward | 20.5 | 46 | 35 |
| Vita Vea | 20.5 | 39 | 26 |
| Daron Payne | 19.5 | 39 | 36 |
Across the 2022-2024 three-year window, Lawrence's 69 QB hits ranks 2nd among interior DL (behind only Chris Jones's 95). His 21 sacks ties him with Buckner for top-4 in the position group, and only Chris Jones is decisively above the cluster.
The lighter TFL count (23) reflects how the Giants use him: deep-pad pass-rush specialist on obvious passing downs, where pressures and hits matter more than line-of-scrimmage stops.
32 QB hits in 2022 — more in one year than he had in his first three seasons combined (30).
AnomalyLawrence's 2022 breakout wasn't gradual — it was a step-function. 2019-2021 totals: 30 QB hits across 47 games (0.64/game). 2022 alone: 32 QB hits in 18 games (1.78/game). He nearly tripled his per-game pressure rate.
The trigger was scheme: new HC Brian Daboll and DC Wink Martindale freed Lawrence to play more 3-tech and 4i-tech alignments instead of pure 0/1-tech nose, putting him in single gaps with shorter paths to the QB. The All-Pro Second Team selection followed.
His first career INT came in 2025 — a 6'4", 340 lb nose tackle picking off a pass.
MilestoneThrough his first six seasons, Lawrence had zero career interceptions. In 2025 he picked up his first — a tipped-ball deflection-and-catch that goes in the books like any other INT.
For context: he's listed at 6'4", 340 lbs. There are typically fewer than 5 interceptions per season league-wide by players over 320 lbs. Adding 'INT' to his stat sheet is a genuine rarity card on its own.
Has played 109+ regular-season games for the Giants since 2019 — the longest interior-DL tenure in NYG since Justin Tuck.
RareLawrence has been the Giants' Day 1 starting interior defender since he was drafted 17th overall in 2019. Across 109 regular-season games (and 4 playoff games, all in the 2022 run), he's missed time only twice — calf in 2024 (5 games) and a 2021 sprain (2 games).
His 2023 extension (4 yr / $90M, $46M guaranteed) is the largest pure DT contract in NYG history. The franchise has paid him to be the centerpiece of a defense that has otherwise turned over completely around him.
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