The Cincinnati Bengals made a big move this offseason when they traded for superstar pass rusher Dexter Lawrence, and it sounds like Lawrence is already impressing during practice.
As the team prepares for the season with Super Bowl aspirations, it sounds like Lawrence is already giving the team everything it wants and more.
Bengals guard Dalton Risner told Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports that Lawrence is the type of player who can “wreck a whole game.”
“There’s certain guys in this league like Dexter who wreck a whole game play and you have to do everything around them and you change everything you’re doing,” Risner said via Yahoo. “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.”
Lawrence also received some high praise from Bengals superstar wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
“Honestly, he’s been terrorizing practice,” Chase said. “I can honestly say that.”
Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said the presence of Lawrence on the other side of the line has been testing the Bengals offensive line and helping make it better, which is good news for the Bengals given that the offensive line has been its weak spot over the years.
“When you have a man as big as [Lawrence], the quick twitch and the speed they’re able to play with just disarms you,” Pitcher said. “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.”
We’ll have to see if Lawrence makes this sort of impact when the games begin, but it sure seems like Cincinnati is already pretty excited about its new defensive superstar.
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