With Dalvin Tomlinson gone, third-year player Dexter Lawrence becomes the face of the New York Giants’ interior defensive line. The 17th overall selection in the 2019 NFL draft out of Clemson is poised to take his place among the elite defensive tackles in the league.

That will all start this Wednesday night when the Giants finally get to practice in front of approximately 50,000 of their fans. After a year of restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the roar of the crowd is going to be more inspirational that ever.

“It’s going to be pretty fun,” Lawrence told reporters on Tuesday. “Obviously, we missed the fans last year. They bring a different type of excitement, a different type of juice. Playing in front of them is just an honor, really.”

Playing in front of so many empty seats last year was a bizarre experience for everyone. Those days are hopefully behind us.

“Yeah, you kind of got numb to it after a while. You’re just out there trying to win games and do your job, keep the spirits up and keep the energy up yourself. We had a lot of games to kind of feel that out and just keep things going for ourselves,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence will be asked to anchor the Giants’ defensive front again with veteran Leonard Williams with the help of several other rotational players such as B.J. Hill, Danny Shelton and Austin Johnson. He’s ready.

“I go every day to have an attitude, a tenacious attitude, and just go out there and get it,” he said. “You know, a lot of the times we’ve got the players on the other side of the ball, so the work we’re getting is amazing. We’re out there to compete and make each other better every day. That’s just our one goal every day, just to get better, don’t make the same mistake and just compete against those guys and help us all grow as a team and get better.”

The Giants open their preseason this Saturday against the New York Jets. Lawrence touched on the significance of the rivalry.

“You obviously want to be top in the state in games like that. I wouldn’t say bragging rights, but more of an internal rivalry type of thing, trying to be on top of your state,” he said.

Is that New York, New Jersey or both?