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Film Breakdown: How Dexter Lawrence Transforms Bengals Defense

The Bengals traded the 10th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft to the Giants for Dexter Lawrence.
Mike Santagata|
AP Photo/Adam Hunger

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Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals made one of the biggest moves in franchise history this weekend when they traded the 10th overall pick for Dexter Lawrence. Lawrence is a 3-time Pro Bowler and 2-time second-team All-Pro. He only managed 0.5 sacks last season, but the value that he brings cannot be found in a stat sheet.

Let’s take a look at the film to show what Lawrence will bring to the Cincinnati Bengals:

Run Defense

Lawrence does an excellent job of managing his blocks when he gets one on one situations. He was typically asked in New York to play in the A gap and to 2 gap or play gap and a half defense meaning that he is trying to fill both A gaps next to the center. Even against some of the best competition the league has to offer, Lawrence was able to win at a high level.

Here against Creed Humphrey, Lawrence immediately on the snap gets both hands into him. He actually misses a bit with the left hand and then has to reset it back inside, but his right arm is so strong he’s able to still control the block the entire way. He peeks to his left around Humphrey and then sheds to his right to make the play once the ball declares.

This is commonly how Lawrence is able to take on these types of base blocks that are coming right at him. He responds by getting his big hands inside of the offensive lineman and then extends out to keep them away from his body. He plays in complete control waiting for the ball carrier to let him know which gap he needs to shed in order to make a play.

When he gets a true mismatch at center, he will not only stay in control and 2 gap but also provide knockback against base blocks.

When Lawrence is able to get underneath a guy and drive them backward he can blow up any run scheme. This is controlled penetration to not just get into the backfield and create havoc but also staying under control and able to make a play if the ball carrier comes to the A gaps.

He will move out to a 2i or even 3 technique at times but the result is similar.

Lawrence simply does not concede ground vertically in these scenarios. He also does not allow the offensive lineman to be in control of the rep. A majority of guards and centers here are looking to create an advantageous stalemate where they turn and get their body in the hole sealing off the defender. Lawrence never allows Tyler Smith to have that type of control.

Another common block seen is the reach block. These are more horizontal blocks and require athleticism to run and stay in front.

Tyler Smith gets a little bit of help from the backside arm of his center here which gets Smith in front of Lawrence. Lawrence responds by using herculean strength to simply toss Smith out of the way so that he can make this play. This is also how he generally plays back blocks where an offensive lineman is trying to just seal him off with leverage.

Lawrence at times may lose an initial battle for positioning but he’s never out of a play with this unbelievable strength. 

As for the hidden value that Lawrence may provide that does not show up on a spreadsheet, look to his ability against combination and double teams blocks.

Lawrence does a great job of holding the double team to keep his linebacker clean. By the time that the guard is able to climb to the second level, the ball has already declared to the inside and the linebacker is free to make a play. Lawrence does not get any credit for a stop on this play, but it’s made possible by his ability to anchor down and keep the offensive line occupied.

However, if there was one area of criticism for how Lawrence played the run last season, it would be in his ability to consistently anchor in against double teams. 

This is one of the hardest jobs in the NFL and Lawrence certainly had plenty of reps where he won, but still he was not quite playing double teams at an elite level last year. This can improve as he was better against them in years past but an example of how he had a somewhat down year last season.

Another issue he had last season was against extremely quick players like Philadelphia’s Cam Jurgens at center.

Some of this comes as a product of playing two gap defense, but Jurgens on this play is able to quickly snap and get to the front side of Lawrence while not allowing him to extend out and win with strength. While Lawrence has the advantage in many other situations, this one specifically is more difficult for him because of how quick Jurgens is.

Overall, Lawrence is an extremely positive force against the run. He is very rarely successfully blocked in one on one scenarios and even wins quite a bit in two on one scenarios.

Pass Rush

Lawrence did not manage one full sack on the entire season in 2025, but his presence was still felt. He was the 6th best defensive tackle in terms of pass rush win rate but he was unlucky in converting those wins into sacks or even quarterback hits at times.

Lawrence primarily uses two moves that play off of each other as a pass rusher. The bull rush and a push pull swim move. Let’s take a look at his bull rush to start.

Lawrence does not always have the most technically refined bull rush but he’s so strong and powerful that it simply does not matter even against some of the best competition the league has to offer. He catches Quinn Meinerz inside hand here, but misses high on his own outside hand. He’s not playing with great leverage either. None of this matters as he simply crumples Meinerz to the ground in front of the quarterback.

Often he will also try to pry open one side or the other with his bull rush.

His initial power here lets him feel that Smith is weaker to his inside so he continues to rush and try to open up that inside shoulder. He gets all the way to the quarterback with leverage to the inside but is unlucky as he cannot finish this rush in a sack.

This move works extremely well to set up his push pull swim which is going to feel the exact same to the offensive lineman.

The first second of this rep is the exact same as his bull rush. Smith is responding by trying to anchor down and survive, but Lawrence responds by pulling him forward and swimming over the top. The result is a completely dominant win for Lawrence.

Similar play here as he puts another OL on his face by pulling and swimming once he feels the offensive lineman trying to anchor down.

The hidden value that Lawrence will provide to the pass rush comes from dictating the protection scheme.

Every pass protection plan is a game of resource management depending on how many players are blocking. In the NFL the most common dropback pass protections are half slide protections with 5 or 6 blockers. These pass protection schemes have a slide side and a man side.

The way that Lawrence affects this is that he almost always will get the slide side of the protection.

Lawrence is a 3T and the Broncos feel as if they need to get the slide to his side so that he faces a double team. To do this they need to slide 4 men toward the left side of the formation which leads to Abdul Carter getting a true one on one opportunity against the right tackle.

Knowing how an offense is going to protect gives the defensive coordinator the ability to also punish teams with blitzes and stunts to the opposite side.

Here’s an example where the Giants lined up with both DTs in a 3 technique but with more credible threats to the right side of the formation than the left. Despite this, the Lions still slid their protection toward Lawrence.

The Giants knew they would do this, so they dropped out the end, put Lawrence in contain, and brought two guys off of the opposite side. This led to them getting 4 defenders rushing on the man side of the protection. That side only has 3 players in to block so there is a free runner who gets through and blows up the play.

The more common way to punish offenses for this protection is to run a stunt to the opposite side of the slide.

The Giants are running a T-E stunt to the side opposite of Lawrence on this play. Despite having both Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux on that side of the formation, the Broncos would prefer to send the slide toward Lawrence. This allows for Thibodeaux and Burns to go 2 on 2 with a stunt. The result is a sack for Burns.

This type of gravity to pull the offensive line towards him on every snap gives the other members of the defensive line an advantage. If the offense is structured around always getting a double team on Lawrence, then every other rusher should see one on one opportunities.

Bottom Line

Overall, Lawrence was still extremely talented and useful last season for the Giants. While the stat sheet was not stuffed in the same way as 2024, the underlying metrics and film show a player who has an impact that goes well beyond counting stats.

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

Mike Santagata is an offensive line and film expert. He's written and analyzed Bengals film for the past four years. He also hosts the Always Gameday in Cincinnati podcast and is a regular guest on the Locked On Bengals podcast.

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