CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns showed a lot of confidence in young defensive tackle Devaroe Lawrence when they traded with the New Orleans Saints to acquire the former Auburn University standout last summer, and he did not disappoint when given an opportunity to impress.
By giving a consistent effort in practice and the games, Lawrence is doing what he can to earn a spot on the Cleveland Browns’ initial 53-man roster, and he continued to make his case during the first half of a 20-16 win over the Detroit Lions in the preseason finale at FirstEnergy Stadium Thursday night.
On the Browns’ first defensive play from scrimmage, Lawrence registered a sack of Lions reserve quarterback Tom Savage. Lawrence’s sack resulted in a six-yard loss for the Lions, and they were unable to get ahead of the first-down markers for the remainder of the drive.
Later in the possession, Lawrence drew a facemask penalty on offensive lineman Luke Bowanko, which the Browns declined to force a punt on fourth-and-14 from the Detroit 20-yard line.
“I wanted to go out and play hard,” Lawrence said after the win. “It is the fourth preseason game, just doing what I have been doing all preseason. As a unit, just playing hard together and keeping the standard, the standard regardless of who’s playing or who is not playing.”
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On first-and-10 from their own 24-yard line, the Lions had Savage line up under center and before he could complete his drop-back and survey the field for an open receiver, Lawrence got into the backfield and finished off his team-leading fourth sack of the preseason.
Lawrence continued his torrid pass-rushing pace against the Lions after he had two sacks during the “dress rehearsal” game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Florida last Friday night.
“Well, he wasted no time tonight, right?” Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said following the game. “That was him in the backfield, so I think he wanted to show everybody that that was not a fluke. I think he certainly did that.
“I was very impressed with Devaroe. Devaroe carried the practices over to the games. He was the same way in practices. I am always happy when guys do that. What you see in practice is what you see in the game. I just want to know what we are going to get when they cross the white lines, and I know what I am getting from him.”
Although Lawrence was productive on the field and on the receiving end of high praise from Kitchens, both after the Lions game and during a training camp practice where the first-year coach highlighted him in front of the entire team as an example of working hard, he is anything but comfortable heading into the roster reductions this weekend.
“I would not say that I feel secure,” Lawrence said. “You do not feel secure until after the weekend when they let you know that you are secure. You just have to keep working, even after this.
“I would not say that I felt secure because everybody is competing, and this team has a lot of depth in a lot of positions. You cannot feel secure. You have to go out and give it your all, every night. You cannot just do what you are supposed to do as a football player and just go out and applying the techniques that the coaches taught us and play hard together. You cannot really get complacent. You have to keep your head down and keep working.”