Dexter Lawrence has heard a franchise legend’s criticism of him, and he is having none of it.

A day after the New York Giants lost 38-20 at the Philadelphia Eagles, former linebacker Carl Banks made this scathing assessment of the nose tackle’s current standing on Monday’s episode of FanDuel’s Bleav in Giants podcast:

“Nobody respects you anymore. …You’re not making a difference. The old Dexter would.”

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When asked about those comments during practice for Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, Lawrence had an equally scathing response:

“Yeah, those were strong words, but if that’s how he feels, then f–k it. …He’s delusional.”

Another player who expressed surprise at Banks’ comments was inside linebacker Bobby Okereke:

“I mean, as an in-house guy, maybe it’s like a coded message where he’s trying to light a fire under Dex. But for a guy who works in-house, it doesn’t take much to find a guy and have a conversation with him one-on-one or get his phone number and call him.”

Dexter Lawrence still impactful on defense, say coach, teammate

So far, 2025 is trending to be a down year for Dexter Lawrence. He has just half a sack after eight completed games, in contrast to his career-high of nine in 2024.

However, at least two people believe that numbers do not tell the full story. A couple of weeks ago, defensive line coach Andre Patterson credited him with enabling Brian Burns’ and Abdul Carter’s edge-rushing successes, while also assuring that the sacks would eventually happen again:

“Call everybody we play and ask them if Dexter Lawrence is still playing like Dexter Lawrence. There’s no other defensive lineman in this league that gets as many double teams as he does. It’s not even close.”

Lawrence’s fellow interior defender Rakeem Nunez-Roches would echo similar sentiments when addressing the media on Monday:

“Guys are still worried about Dex. The way they block Dex is different from how they’ll block us or other D-linemen. When they see him out there, he’s still a threat. …They still know they have to double, triple or seal him off for certain things. So, yes, he’s still a weapon.”