There’s not a lot of players on the New York Giants this season who have been recognized by the rest of the league as being the best at their position – the lack of Pro Bowlers for the team just highlighted the poorer play from even the team’s star players this year. And most didn’t expect any Giants to end up with postseason rewards, based on their play over the season.
However, that wasn’t the case for everyone. Some players did perform well despite things overall going pretty bad around them, and one of those players was a defensive lineman who made a big impact in his first year in the league: Dexter Lawrence.
The former Clemson player was taken in the first round after the Giants selected Daniel Jones, with most agreeing that it was a decent choice despite some skepticism around Dave Gettleman’s trend of drafting defensive linemen, and immediately stepped into a starting role to help replace the loss of Damon Harrison.
In that rookie season, Lawrence appeared in 63% of the Giants’ defensive snaps and registered 38 combined tackles and 9 quarterback hits. His effort was enough to earn him recognition among the best rookies in the league, as part of the PFWA All-Rookie team.
The 2019 PFWA All-Rookie Team and rookie honors: pic.twitter.com/mmHVHWWQFx
— Pro Football Writers (@PFWAwriters) January 14, 2020
The Giants defensive line hasn’t always played well in recent years so it’s useful for the Giants to have a growing star at the position. With a pass rusher potentially being added with a high pick in the 2020 Draft, Lawrence may just end up being part of a competent unit next year, which would be a good change for a team still trying to replace talents such as Jason Pierre-Paul.