EAST RUTHERFORD – Dexter Lawrence has never been one for standing at the podium and having a multitude of reporters firing question after question his way. Just hasn’t been his thing since he arrived as the 17th overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft of the New York Giants.
Need someone to crack a joke or do the “Sexy Dexy” dance for social media? Absolutely. Lawrence lives it. He would hardly be considered an introvert when the spotlight is on, especially inside football stadiums.
But you could always sense a bit of uneasiness from Lawrence in the news conference setting that he again faced Thursday after the second practice of Giants’ training camp.
Until now.
Maybe the $90 million contract the Giants gave him this offseason flipped a switch, or the undeniable impact Lawrence had on the field en route to All-Pro honors provided the validation he needed to feel empowered by his presence at the front of the room.
Or perhaps this was just another sign of a natural maturation as a recently-engaged 25-year-old who came to the shadow of the Big Apple four years earlier with the burden of being part of the trade that sent Odell Beckham Jr. out of town on his shoulders.
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Lawrence commanded respect with the messages he delivered Thursday, and the words he spoke, answering questions he could have easily tossed aside by flashing his wide smile and a chuckle, carried the weight of a 6-foot-4, 342-pound leader who had a statement to make.
“I don’t want to talk about building. It’s more about doing at this point,” Lawrence said. “Going into my fifth season, and I hate losing. I don’t really want to talk about building. I want to talk about what we are doing today to get better for tomorrow, and then that day leads into the season. You all can talk about building but our mindset is winning.”
It’s really the first time we have gotten a sense of what these Giants, in Brian Daboll’s second season, view…
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