1-on-1 with New York Giants star Dexter Lawrence: Daniel Jones, giving back … and some fun stuff

A different kind of conversation with the Giants’ defensive tackle

Dexter Lawrence was busy helping his community by fighting hunger during his day off on Tuesday. The New York Giants star defensive tackle took a few minutes, though, to chat with Big Blue View.

We had what I think was a fun chat that didn’t focus on the season the Giants are having. I hope you enjoy it.

The obligatory Daniel Jones question

I had to ask Lawrence, the Giants best defensive player and I guy who roomed with Daniel Jones during training camp when both were rookies in 2018, for his reaction to the Monday benching of the quarterback.

“It was shocking, for sure,” Lawrence said. “But at the end of the day they feel like Tommy [DeVito] will give us the best chance is what was said to win and you got to respect that. But as my brother, I feel for him and hope and wish nothing but the best in the future. And I know, I know how good of a player he is.”

Some fun (hopefully) stuff

I didn’t want to spend the 8-10 minutes I had with Lawrence belaboring the misery of the team’s 2-8 season and making him recite canned answers to all of the standard “how do you fix it?” and “why did this happen?” questions.

So, I went trolling for some for some insight into some other things that were on my mind.

On Jermaine Eluemunor’s outlandish pre-game clothing choices …

“I see him walking to the locker room, I just laugh. He’s flashy. He’s very confident in himself, and that’s what his outfit shows.

“Only a confident man can wear that.”

On the seemingly always smiling Rakeem Nunez-Roches …

“Very energetic, natural leader. I enjoy playing beside him. Me and him have grown close over the couple, past couple years, and he has become a friend. … He’s the same person every day, and you can do nothing but respect that.”

On the best comeback anyone has ever had for his trash talk …

Lawrence is a widely-acknowledged talker during games. Here are a couple of examples:

So, has anyone ever gotten the better of Lawrence when it came to on-field trash talk?

When I asked him, Lawrence just buried his head in his hands and started to laugh. He wouldn’t tell me who it was or what was said, but he did admit having been bested — once.

“It was an o-lineman that had a great comeback. I can’t really remember the team, but it had me. I had to shut up the rest of the game pretty much. He shut me up.”

Facing former teammate Sterling Shepard …

Shepard was expected to retire after last season, but decided to continue his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team the Giants face on Sunday.

“He’s a competitor and he works hard every day and he’s a guy that has a lot of respect in his organization. It’ll be exciting to see him. He’s been playing really well for them when he gets his touches and his opportunities. I have a lot of respect for him.”

On first-year teammate Brian Burns …

“Good dude. A lot of knowledge of the game and his position. Works hard, cares a lot about the game and his teammates … this is a good dude. I’ve known him for a lot of years, since high school. We can go way back and we got a lot of chemistry.”

On defensive line coach Andre Patterson …

“Great coach, elite coach. Should be in the Hall of Fame one day, in my opinion. I think he cares a lot about his players. And he shows that by the way he coaches and approaches us every day. He teaches us about football life, whatever it is.”

Sacking hunger

Lawrence was available as part of an event for Campbell’s called ‘Chunky Sacks Hunger,’ a program aimed to fight food insecurity in partnership with the NFL and Feeding America. Lawrence spent Tuesday taking part in a food donation event.

“Today we, we were serving. We packaged up, I think, 30 boxes of Campbell’s, Campbell’s soups and it was like nine cans per box, so there’s a lot of labor and we have fun. We did it with a smile and joy and brought smiles to people’s faces.

“It is important because to me it’s always bigger than me. It’s always bigger than what I’m doing. It’s always bigger than putting on a helmet type of thing. I think what’s important is about serving and giving back.”