How Dexter Lawrence 'jolt' sent shockwaves through the Bengals locker room

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Center Ted Karras got a call from his dad driving up I-95 through Georgia. “I was hoping he wasn’t going to say he was going somewhere else in the (AFC) North,” Karras said. Defensive tackle B.J. Hill was hanging out with Lawrence, the godfather of his kids, the night before celebrating his birthday. The news spiked a primal reaction when the final word hit his phone. “I just started yelling, ‘Let’s go!'” Hill said. Whether offense or defense, coaches or front office, equipment staff or public relations, the group chats were firing as news got out that Dexter Lawrence was coming to the Bengals in exchange for the 10th pick in the NFL Draft. The exclamation point on a statement offseason from the Bengals front office sent a tidal wave through every member of the organization that hadn’t subsided as the team reported for the offseason program on Monday. “Hell yeah,” Karras said. “People are buzzing all day, all weekend, getting calls. Everyone is excited. That was a big jolt of energy to start spring 2026.” This was the type of moment, the type of move where you remember where you were. For a collection of Bengals players increasingly frustrated with where they’ve been each of the last three Januarys, this elicited a specific brand of momentum and emotion. The type capable of carrying real momentum through the offseason program and setting a tangible tone of excitement and urgency. “I felt it with the amount of players that communicated with me through calls or texts Saturday night, Sunday,” Taylor said. “You feel that energy from them. You just feel it around the building. It’s indescribable, a little bit. You can’t really put it into words.” Lawrence flew in Sunday morning with his family, as well as Hill. He has no shortage of stories from this whirlwind weekend and the last few weeks, where he says he felt like a puppet on a string, not knowing what would unfold. He got the call from his agent on Saturday night saying a deal was in place with the Bengals. “I was playing NBA2K,” Lawrence said. “I was on my video game. My agent called me, I got off and had to exit the game … I had to talk to my wife, we had to pray to make the right decision.” Lawrence had been contemplating leaving New York for the small town and slower pace of Cincinnati since Hill started talking to him about it. One feeling stood out over all the noise that surrounded his name and his situation for weeks now. “I felt ease when I said I was going to be a Cincinnati Bengal,” Lawrence said. “It felt good to me.” It felt great to his new teammates and a city that exploded with excitement over an all-in move they’d been waiting decades for the Bengals to make. They gathered for a dinner with the new man in the middle of the massive defensive rebuild at Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse on Sunday night. A small collection of players and coaches were at the table, with Hill an obvious go-between introducing his New York best friend to meet the elated new crew. “The vibes were high,” Hill said. There was some football talk, some life talk, some get-to-know-you basics. There were also fascinating hellos that tell a story of the 2026 Bengals in their own right. Right tackle Amarius Mims, at 6-foot-8, 340 pounds and one of the rare physical specimens in the world, much less the NFL, offered his first handshake-plus to the 6-4, 340-pound Lawrence. “I went to bring it in and I went backwards,” Mims said, a huge smile stretching across his face. “He kind of stood there, I’m like, ‘Oh man, all right.’ He a dude, too.” What a scene. Like watching two unicorns hug. It’s hard to argue that the Bengals look the part. “We have about three (unicorns) on the team now,” Karras said. “We are at least the all-bus team. Let’s be the all-field team now.” The honeymoon phase isn’t hard to embrace, certainly, and face of the franchise Joe Burrow wasn’t even around this weekend as Lawrence said he hasn’t heard from the quarterback yet. But it’s clear that Lawrence’s charismatic personality quickly meshed with the leadership group and made an impactful first impression. “He’s such a positive person,” defensive coordinator Al Golden said. “When you meet him, he’s very engaging. I think he’s an uplifter. I think he’s a mentor. He’s a leader. Just in the short time I’ve been exposed to him, it’s really impressive.” Not that Lawrence would admit to reservations on the first day of his new job, but his presence alone, breaking a sweat in the new weight room and making the rounds, resonated in both directions, feeling like the right move was made by all parties. New surroundings offer an opportunity for Lawrence to feel refreshed. Whether it be laughing with new teammates at dinner, new coaches, new quarterbacks or a new city. All these feelings pulsing through him over the last 72 hours were part of what made this a match. They were part of what put him at ease when he and his wife prayed. “The saying kept coming to me: ‘You got to be uncomfortable to get comfortable,'” Lawrence said. “When this opportunity came, I jumped at it because I knew I was going to be uncomfortable. You got to learn a lot of new names, move to a new city, and bring my family and my dogs and find a place, so I knew it was going to be a little uncomfortable. That’s the process, though, and I think I handle, I adjust well, and I handle those things well, so I was just excited to be here … and take this thing to another level.” That level was never reached in New York and he politely danced around the fact that the time was right for him to leave the Giants, a team in transition under John Harbaugh. He didn’t like the perception that he had beef with the Giants on the way out. He just called it “business.” He professed love for quarterback Jaxson Dart and said he thinks he’ll be special, but the idea of what’s immediately possible with Burrow and the offensive weapons was palpable all weekend. Being part of taking this team back to the postseason feels personal. “I can’t explain it,” Lawrence said. “I get a little tense when someone asks me that. It’s a burning fire for them to bring me in the way they did and give up what they did. I owe it to them to dominate on that field. That’s what I plan on doing.” With Lawrence, Boye Mafe and Jonathan Allen joining Hill, Myles Murphy, Shemar Stewart and a collection of young players in need of making a leap, there’s a reason all smiles circulated around Paycor Stadium. “He’s going to make everybody’s job easier,” Hill said. “Can’t find one flaw in his game. He does everything well.” He doesn’t just make the Bengals better; after giving up the 10th pick, he makes them “all-in” for 2026. That’s what really matters about all the high vibes, handshakes and buzzing group texts. The returning players explained Monday what it’s like to watch $195 million in contracts and the 10th pick be used to fix the defense and complement Burrow’s offense, which is returning every starter. “We got a bunch of dudes who can ball,” Mims said. “Who you going to slide to and who you going to double-team? That is ‘all-in’ if you ask me. They know it’s win now and we know it’s win now and we want to win.” The onus and pressure of expectations officially shifted. “There’s a ton of urgency,” left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. said. “They are very committed to getting it done. They understand the windows of some of our top players in their primes. I think the agenda is understood. It’s on us now as players to handle business.” Everybody’s stories of this weekend will be told in Los Angeles if the Bengals were to actually handle business and take advantage of the Super Bowl window. There’s a recognition that Lawrence changed the energy and expectations. To a man on Monday, the impact felt real in Cincinnati. Now comes the reality. “It’s one of those things that just elevates everybody,” Taylor said. “And we’ve got to go win.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms