Dexter Lawrence Receives Major Praise and Fair Ranking After trade to Cincinnati Bengals

Tue, Jul 21, 2026

Video Transcript

A little sexy Dexy.

Dexter Lawrence is, well, being ranked just like all these guys are.

We talked about Ja'Marr Chase a little bit ago and where he's ranked, where T. Higgins is in the NFL wide receiver hierarchy.

What about Dexter Lawrence?

The big splash, the 350 pound splash the Bengals made in April before the draft, trading the 10th overall pick for Dexter Lawrence.

Lawrence, 4th in Sports Illustrated's defensive tackle rankings, and I. I think that these are pretty, pretty interesting.

You got Jeffrey Simmons 1, Jalen Carter 2, Quinnin Williams, 3, and Dexter Lawrence 4.

Too high, too low, or just right?

I certainly think it's too low.

I think Dexter Lawrence is the 2nd best probably right now interior defensive lineman in the league, but I'm OK with this.

I'm OK with this going into next year because of the production last year.

This is not blatant disrespect that we saw in the last D-line rankings for Dexter Lawrence.

They had him at 7th.

That is absurd, and we reacted to it as we should have, I mean , it's just absolutely crazy to have him at 7th.

4 makes sense.

You have half a sack last year coming off a significant injury now which affected the production last season, switching teams essentially traded away from the last team for obviously the 10th overall pick isn't nothing, but discarded as one of the better players in the NFL, which isn't something you normally see from people of Desk Lawrence's caliber in the league.

So I think this is fair .

I do think those other 3 are also elite.

I love Jalen.

And what he's able to do, especially at his age in the league.

Jeffrey Simmons, I think, is no doubt in that #1 spot.

And then Quinnin Williams also traded for a 1st round pick last season, so they're obviously pretty close together.

I think those 4 are in a league of their own compared to the other interior defensive linemen in the NFL, and I expect Dexter to climb that list this year when the production gets back to what we've seen before in his career.

But coming off of last season, I do think this is fair, Probably the floor for where I won't lose my mind.

Probably the floor for where he won't lose his mind, clip that, clip that.

I think we can reuse that multiple times.

This is probably the floor for where I won't lose my mind.

I agree though, in, in, in a big way, like 4th isn't disrespectful, it isn't offensive.

Could he be higher?

Should he be higher?

I think we could debate that.

Joe Burrow certainly thinks so, the Bengals certainly think so.

At the same time, if you're the 4th best.

In the world it's something coming off of a down year, that's a heck of a year, and that's what Sports Illustrated noted in these rankings, that Lawrence is coming off of a down season by his standards, recording just a half sack as he returned from an injury, but he's a top 10 defensive tackle.

He also had one of the best seasons of his career in 2024 with 9 sacks, three consecutive Pro Bowls from 2022 to 2024, and was previously a two-time second team All-Pro in 2022 and 20923.

Look, I, I, I think that.

He's someone that you need to be a little bit more productive in the counting stats, but you need to feel his impact.

And the reason I buy into this Bengals defense, a big reason why, a 350 pound reason why is because Dexter Lawrence.

Should have that impact.

He should be able to, regardless of the counting numbers, should be able to get after the passer and impact the game enough against the run and against the pass that you feel him down in and down out and that's all the Bengals really, that that's what they're looking for and that's what's really rare to find, that's what's hard to find is an interior pass rusher.

It's why Jeffrey Simmons is number one on this list, and I would not debate Simmons being number one at all.

I think he's awesome.

I do.

And a big part of that is he commands double teams and he can get pressure.

Now, the unique thing about him versus a Jalen Carter or Quinnon Williams is his size, is his unique skill set, is, is the, the measurables that go along with winning against double teams, uh, getting after the passer and the pass rush juice he brings, he is unique in that.

There aren't any, none of these other guys are Dexter Lawrence from that standpoint.

So, and we talked about this when he was 7th on ESPN ESPN's rankings after being 1st last year.

There's a realistic path for Dexter Lawrence to take that leap.

And be first on this list a year from now.

It would not shock me, especially with the offseason work that he's putting in.

Absolutely, and I think obviously you need the counting numbers to be better or hope they will be.

Half a sack isn't going to cut it, trading the 10th overall pick for Dexter Lawrence in this defense, but I think the exciting thing about putting that many resources in a guy in the interior of the defensive line instead of, say , a Trey Hendrickson or an edge rusher on the defense to be that guy, there's many more ways for Dexter Lawrence.

To impact the game outside of sacks than an edge rusher, it felt like when Trey wasn't getting sacks, when he wasn't finishing the game, which he did a lot, he's a great player here for the Bengals' defense, but it was hard for him to impact the game on plays where he wasn't sacking the quarterback.

I think that's the thing I'm most excited for about Dexter, to have the face of this Bengals defense, the star of this Bengals defense, be someone who can not only affect every play in the game right there.

Interior of the defensive line, but also make everyone around him better by eating double teams and transferring how the offensive line is going to have to handle those matchups.

I think he's just going to be a really, really special player for this team, and we talked when he was ranked 7th that if he came in around there this season, then it was probably a bad trade for the Bengals, or at least not something that would project them to where a lot of us are talking about this defense potentially being this season.

I think 4 is not in that same boat.

Obviously you'd like him to get back into that best in the league conversation, but if we leave this season for the Bengals and Dexter Lawrence is still in the conversation with these guys, you know, Jeffrey Simmons, Jaylen Carter, Quinnin Williams for the top 4 interior defensive linemen in the league, I think it could still be an awesome season.

I think coming out of these rankings, you feel much better about.

Dexter Lawrence in this trade than potentially those ESPN ones and that's where the discrepancy really shocks me and I think that's where the nuance of interior defensive line comes in.

You look at the ESPN rankings and so much conversation of the half a sack, and they bring it up here but keep Dexter Lawrence ranked 4th, and that's because of the double team percentage.

That's because of the amount of snaps played at nose tackle, which none of these other 3 except for Quinn.

Williams get even close to that.

So, I think Dexter Lawrence not only does what all these other guys do at a high level, but he does it from a unique position that allows him to really impact everyone else.

That's why the Bengals are so OK giving up Pick 10.

I don't think Pick 10 is being traded for Quinnin Williams, who's ranked ahead of Dexter Lawrence.

I don't think P10 is necessarily being traded for Jalen Carter because of some of the stuff off the field with him that goes on, and Jeffrey Simmons, I think, is one that would certainly be in that list and a name that T. Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase threw around early in the offseason.

But Dexter Lawrence is one I wouldn't bat an eye at, and that's why the Bengals did it, and that's why I think it was such a great move, it's because he's such an outlier compared to the rest of the league and what he's able to do on the field.