The Cincinnati Bengals had already added some significant pieces to the defense early in free agency, but trading their 10th overall pick to the New York Giants for nose tackle Dexter Lawrence signaled they really are \u201call in\u201d on getting back to being a title contender.<\/p>\n
That was the buzz around the locker room at Paycor Stadium on Monday as players convened for the first offseason workout program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
News of the trade broke Saturday night, and players said it was a jolt then, but they could feel his presence on Day 1 being in the building together. Lawrence arrived Sunday to make the trade official and participated in his first conditioning and weight lifting sessions Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is all in, if you ask me,\u201d right tackle Amarius Mims said. \u201cThey (in the front office) know it\u2019s \u2018win now,\u2019 we know it’s \u2018win now,\u2019 and we want to win, so why not get dogs in the middle and on the defensive side. I’m happy. I am very excited about the gameplan they put together. I’m very excited about the guys we brought in. And it’s just like I said, that shows they’re all in, and everybody here’s all in too. So, you know, we’re happy about it. Couldn\u2019t be more excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said he received a number of calls and texts from players over the weekend, and he could feel the energy from those conversations and around the building Monday. He said it\u2019s \u201cindescribable.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Cincinnati Bengals’ Dexter Lawrence II speaks during an NFL press conference, Monday, April 20, 2026, in Cincinnati. JEFF DEAN \/ AP<\/p>\n
Jeff Dean \/ AP<\/p>\n
Cincinnati has been looking for a DJ Reader replacement since he departed after the 2023 season, and Lawrence, at 6-foot-4, 340 pounds, can provide push in the run defense and pass rush. The Bengals still have holes to fill in the draft this weekend with seven picks over the second through seventh rounds, but Lawrence\u2019s addition felt like the missing piece following the signings of edge rusher Boye Mafe, safeties Bryan Cook and Kyle Dugger and defensive tackle Jonathan Allen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s one of those things that just elevates everybody, and we’ve got to go win,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cYou add Dexter, you add all these guys on defense that we’ve added. Again, credit to upstairs, to personnel and those guys for getting these guys down here in the locker room because you can just feel the presence of everybody we’ve added on top of the guys that we already have \u2014 young and old. We’ve got a really great collection of guys. We’re in a tremendous position going into the draft this weekend to just add pieces on either side of the ball that can help us win. I’m really excited about the position we’re in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Safety Jordan Battle said he loves the trade and was happy to see the organization make such an unexpected move. He thinks Lawrence was \u201cwell worth\u201d giving up a top 10 pick.<\/p>\n
Adding a guy like Lawrence helps every level of the defense because he will soak up a lot of attention from the opposing linemen and cause \u201cpanic\u201d for the quarterback.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just creates chaos,\u201d Battle said. \u201cBeats double teams very often, can factor in the run game and the pass game, probably one of the most explosive D-tackles in the pass game in the league. So, it’s gonna be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mims and center Ted Karras both said they are glad they are teammates with Lawrence now, even if that means they need to be ready for some big battles in training camp. They feel sorry for opposing offensive linemen that have to face Lawrence in games.<\/p>\n
Karras knows what that feels like as someone who has faced Lawrence both with the Bengals and in his previous stint with the New England Patriots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am excited that we have a guy that elicits fear in opposing offensive lines,\u201d Karras said. \u201cI mean, that’s just what it is. He’s an intimidating guy to play against and a very productive, awesome player. And from the initial, you know, hour I’ve spent with him, seems like a fantastic human being. So really, really excited he’s on the team. That was a big little jolt going in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor speaks during an NFL press conference, Monday, April 20, 2026, in Cincinnati. JEFF DEAN \/ AP<\/p>\n
Jeff Dean \/ AP<\/p>\n
Karras remembers Lawrence being hard to stop because he\u2019s so powerful and also quick for his size.<\/p>\n
The Bengals went into the offseason with a lot of questions about their defensive line and now have Mafe, Allen and Lawrence joining BJ Hill and ascending defensive end Myles Murphy. Mims said opposing offensive lines will have to \u201cpick their poison\u201d on who to stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen your best guy\u2019s in the middle, if it’s a three-down front, your whole interior is basically locked in on him, and it forces the tackles to be one-on-one,\u201d Mims said. \u201cWith a guy like (Lawrence), \u2026 then we have Jonathan coming in, we have Mafe coming, like, who you gonna focus on? You’re gonna slide to him. Are you gonna leave him one on one? What do you do? So, like, I said, man, great job for free agency, and we just got a lot of dudes who can ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
BJ Hill was especially reinvigorated having Lawrence, a close friend and former Giants teammate, join the Bengals. The whole defense has a new vibe going into 2026, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou love seeing great players come in here and want to be here and want to play winning football,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cincinnati Bengals had already added some significant pieces to the defense early in free agency, but trading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-871869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116448336275922221","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}