'Somebody Has To Challenge the King of the Jungle' - Bengals DT Dexter Lawrence Takes a Few Runs at Joe Burrow

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and center Ted Karras got up close and personal with the disruptive menace that is defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence during Wednesday’s first practice of training camp.

“I’ve obviously got a tough month in front of me,” Karras said. “He's really good. This is gonna be a very good experience for me to keep getting better in Year 11, going against the best guy in the league.

“I thought I did pretty good today, but he got me on one.”

On that play, Lawrence was in the backfield so quickly that Burrow had to get rid of the ball without looking where he was throwing it because all he could see was a giant 97 bearing down on him.

“He got back there pretty quick a couple of times,” Burrow said. “We’re going to have to get that thing out. I made some blind throws today because of how big he is, and he pushes that pocket and gets close to you. You have to be able to throw without seeing.”

Lawrence saw plenty.

“I looked him in his eye a couple times,” Lawrence said with a chuckle. “I had to challenge him. Somebody has to challenge the king of the jungle. Somebody has to keep him on edge.

“Me doing that is going to help him get better,” Lawrence added. “And him finding ways to get around me and throw the ball are going to help me get better.”

In addition to the 6-foot-5, 350-pound Lawrence, Burrow had to contend with free agent signees Jonathan Allen (6-3, 300) and Boye Mafe (6-4, 265) and defensive end Myles Murphy (6-5, 275).

“We’ve got some big, strong healthy guys out there,” Lawrence said. “It's an exciting group. There's a lot of talent and a lot of knowledge. That's the most important thing. We just feed off each other, and we were communicating all practice. Even though it was the first day, we were communicating and letting each other know what we see and how we want to attack different things. It was good.”

Just as Karras knows he has a long, challenging month ahead in dealing with Lawrence, the former All Pro voiced respect for his sparring partner.

“I love him,” Lawrence said of Karras. “He's the most competitive guy I've ever been against -- for real -- in practice. So it's a joy. In practice it's easy to lose your edge, but he helps you keep it.

“We were bickering, a little bickering,” Lawrence said. “But that’s the competitive spirit. It’s gonna get intense, but fighting in practice is not gonna help us get better. We’re both good pros and we know how to push each other and compete.”

Add us as a preferred source on Google