Trading for Dexter Lawrence was the clearest sign that the Cincinnati Bengals' organizational philosophy shifted this offseason. To surrender the 10th overall pick for an eventual guard drafted by the New York Giants already feels like a steal for Cincinnati.
Lawrence was always going to be reinvigorated by his change of scenery. Getting to play on the other side of the ball opposite an offense with an elite quarterback like Joe Burrow? And the best receiver in the sport in Ja'Marr Chase? That alone would be well worth the move to a new NFL city.
Anyone with a brain and the slightest ball knowledge knows the Bengals did excellent business to score Lawrence. Now, we're seeing it in real time at training camp, according to Chase himself.
Chase describes Sexy Dexy's training camp presence as 'terrorizing'
In an interview with Yahoo Sports' Jori Epstein, which features other gushing testimony about Dexter Lawrence, Bengals superstar wideout Ja'Marr Chase had something of a transcribed mic drop moment:
"Honestly, he's been terrorizing practice...I can honestly say that."
That's whilst facing off against the best offensive line of the Burrow era, led by veterans like center Ted Karras and right guard Dalton Risner.
Karras used some rather colorful language recently to describe how difficult facing off with Lawrence is. Risner expounded a little more to Epstein the messaging Chase relayed about Sexy Dexy:
"There's certain guys in this league like Dexter who wreck a whole game play and you have to do everything around them and you change everything you're doing...You're going to have to change how you block against certain guys. He's just making us do it really early and really often."
At this point tin training camp, it's an almost-universal pro football rule that the defense is ahead of the offense in terms of syncing up, knowing the playbook cold, and executing the scheme.
The defense would've been forgiven for lagging behind Burrow, Chase, and the offense. After all, the o-line returns all five starters from last year's solid unit. Zac Taylor was the only AFC North head coach who's returning from 2025, and he's in charge of the offensive play sheet.
It's wildly encouraging to hear that not only is Lawrence living up to the hype, but the defense is stepping up to challenge what should be one of the better offenses in the sport. Burrow is certainly among the best QBs.
That's the iron-sharpens-iron type of vibe that's been missing. We want the defense emphatically ahead of the offense as fans. That's how it should be!
We're also seeing, though, just how much of a difference one player can make. Lawrence is that type of force multiplier who can open up the whole playbook for defensive coordinator Al Golden. He'll take a ton of pressure off Burrow to score at will on every drive, too.
Still very early, y'all, but this is sounding mighty promising.
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