Cincinnati Bengals players laughed at some of the Dexter Lawrence trade critics.
As it turns out, Bengals players aren’t the only ones dismissing some of the concerns that made the rounds after Cincinnati traded the 10th overall pick for Lawrence.
There’s at least one NFL personnel member around the league who thinks Lawrence is about to do big things with the Bengals.
“I think he’ll be rejuvenated there,” an NFC scout told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “He wasn’t happy in New York. He’s got to keep his conditioning in check, but when he’s at his best, he’s next to impossible to block.”
That’s just one voice, but it should say a lot that Lawrence wound up ranking as the seventh-best defensive tackle in the entire NFL on Fowler’s list. Said list came about via conversations and rankings with NFL personnel, which includes executives, coaches and more.
Much of the chatter around the downsides of the Bengals trading for Lawrence had to do with cost and his “down” season last year. But injuries, scheme changes and plenty of other things go into that type of anomaly of a showing.
The Bengals clearly believe they will get Lawrence at his best and benefit from his presence in the heart of the unit. So far, there’s no reason to believe otherwise, so fans can be happy to roster one of the 10 best tackles in the NFL going into training camp.
