The title of NFL Defensive Tackle of the Year is vacant for the first time in at least seven years, and New York has two leading candidates.
The Giants’ Dexter Lawrence and the Jets’ Quinnen Williams are among 10 NFL defensive tackles making more than $20 million a year, and all of them want to take the throne vacated by Aaron Donald.
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year surprisingly retired from the Rams in March.
So who is the best right now? Is it Lawrence, whose 81 quarterback pressures as a true nose tackle over the past two seasons are five times more than the 16 each of Christian Barmore (Patriots) and Derrick Brown (Panthers) bring in for second-place finishers?
“Maybe,” Lawrence says, “but you just have to keep working on your weaknesses and developing your strengths. [Donald] For what he brought to the table. We’ll probably never see another like him again.”
Or maybe Williams is the best right now.
Before last season, John “Franklin” Myers, a teammate who played on the defensive line with both stars, predicted he would eventually “surpass” Donald.
Donald finished second in the league among interior defenders graded by Pro Football Focus last season, sandwiched between Lawrence (No. 1) and Williams (No. 3).
“A guy who did it the right way, he laid the blueprint for all of his successors, like me,” Williams said. “He helped build the defensive tackle traits for all of his successors because we all watched film, we all learned the tools from him, we all try to do the things he does, like abdominal training. [at] 285 pounds or something like that.”
Donald changed the way he scouted and positioned defensive tackles, expanding their scope from big-time run-stoppers to more athletic pass rushers who get in the quarterback’s face.
When Donald entered the league as the 13th pick in the 2014 draft, defensive tackles had just six of the top 50 defensive contracts.
That number will grow to 16 in 2024 and would have been 17 if Donald, who became the NFL’s first defensive tackle to make $22 million in 2018 and the first non-quarterback to make $30 million in 2022, hadn’t left the team with one year left on his contract.
Pass rushers are rewarded.
Donald recorded a total of 111 sacks in 10 seasons.
“I play well in the pass rush, but I feel like I still have a lot of areas to improve on when it comes to making more moves and countering,” said Williams, who recorded 33 career sacks and led all defensive tackles last season with 15 tackles for loss or no gain. “Growing up my pass rush bag has really been my main focus.” [offseason] concentration. “
Lawrence was challenged by Giants defensive line coach Andre Patterson to not get complacent after his second straight Pro Bowl appearance.
“Coach Dre has really helped me shift my mindset a little bit and work on the things I’m not good at,” Lawrence said. “That’s the next step to getting better. I’m grateful to him for helping me think about the things I’m not necessarily good at, relying on my natural habits to do what I can to get better in the game. Something I’m working on is having more tools – speed rush, using my hands a little bit more on the rush.”
The most likely successor to Donald is Chiefs guard Chris Jones, who was named first-team All-Pro the past two seasons and has 75.5 career sacks and three Super Bowl wins in eight seasons.
But he signed a five-year, $158.75 million contract extension earlier this offseason and will soon be turning 30.
Lawrence and Williams, both 26, entered the league as first-round draft picks in 2019 and signed four-year contract extensions worth more than $87 million before the 2023 season.
That means Donald is halfway through his career before he burns out.
“Ten years is a long time, but you expect more,” Lawrence said, “but he’s risen to the top.”
Lawrence has appeared in the playoffs twice so far.
Williams has never played in a game but is envious of Donald, who will “leave as a champion” with the Super Bowl ring he won in 2021 on a game-defining play.
“Right now, I’m just focused on winning football games,” Williams said. “We haven’t had the success we wanted yet, but we’re moving in the right direction toward where we want to go, which is the playoffs and the Super Bowl.”
