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There weren’t many holes to poke in the Cincinnati Bengals trading for Dexter Lawrence.
Sure, those who pounded the table for draft assets being a big deal were upset about the team losing the 10th overall pick. But for those who had seen how poorly the Bengals had drafted in recent years, which put them in this hole to begin with, the tradeoff wasn’t that bad.
Much more of the criticism of the trade aimed at Lawrence himself.
Lawrence is, after all, nearing the dreaded age of 30 (he’s 28) and had a recent elbow injury and a few missed games on his resume.
Rest assured that, like fans, players in the Bengals locker room saw the criticisms and laughed them off.
“He’s just fine,” BJ Hill told Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. “That’s just haters talking because they lost their guy.”
Lawrence also had some down sack numbers in recent years, but he’s not concerned with the outside noise.
“I know how I approach this game and how I feel about it and my impact on the game, even when it doesn’t show up in the sack numbers,” Lawrence told Dehner. “That’s just the way it goes. People want to make themselves feel better by talking down on somebody else. I just continue to be who I am and be Dex and everything take care of itself.”
Only looking at sacks is a very surface-level way to look at a player, too. Lawrence’s numbers in recent years came on a bad defense where things like schematic changes played a role, in addition to his injuries.
When the biggest criticisms of a move are age (at 28) and a select handful of stats, it makes it easier to laugh off just like the players. Provided Lawrence can stay on the field, he’s a massive upgrade over what the Bengals trotted out last year at the same spot and he’s unique across the NFL in what he can do from the nose tackle in a formation.
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Why Bengals players laughed at critics of Dexter Lawrence trade
Continue reading...
Sure, those who pounded the table for draft assets being a big deal were upset about the team losing the 10th overall pick. But for those who had seen how poorly the Bengals had drafted in recent years, which put them in this hole to begin with, the tradeoff wasn’t that bad.
Much more of the criticism of the trade aimed at Lawrence himself.
Lawrence is, after all, nearing the dreaded age of 30 (he’s 28) and had a recent elbow injury and a few missed games on his resume.
Rest assured that, like fans, players in the Bengals locker room saw the criticisms and laughed them off.
“He’s just fine,” BJ Hill told Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. “That’s just haters talking because they lost their guy.”
Lawrence also had some down sack numbers in recent years, but he’s not concerned with the outside noise.
“I know how I approach this game and how I feel about it and my impact on the game, even when it doesn’t show up in the sack numbers,” Lawrence told Dehner. “That’s just the way it goes. People want to make themselves feel better by talking down on somebody else. I just continue to be who I am and be Dex and everything take care of itself.”
Only looking at sacks is a very surface-level way to look at a player, too. Lawrence’s numbers in recent years came on a bad defense where things like schematic changes played a role, in addition to his injuries.
When the biggest criticisms of a move are age (at 28) and a select handful of stats, it makes it easier to laugh off just like the players. Provided Lawrence can stay on the field, he’s a massive upgrade over what the Bengals trotted out last year at the same spot and he’s unique across the NFL in what he can do from the nose tackle in a formation.
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Why Bengals players laughed at critics of Dexter Lawrence trade
Continue reading...
