{"id":859815,"date":"2026-04-07T23:15:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/859815\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T23:15:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:15:36","slug":"harbaugh-sends-message-after-giants-lawrence-trade-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/859815\/","title":{"rendered":"Harbaugh sends message after Giants’ Lawrence trade request"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Harbaugh wants Dexter Lawrence<\/a> to remain a Giant. He thinks Lawrence wants to stay in New York, too.<\/p>\n

But the Giants\u2019 first-year head coach fired a warning shot Tuesday at players who think they\u2019re above the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s tradeable,\u201d Harbaugh said after his first Giants<\/a> team meeting. \u201cEverybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harbaugh did not aim this message at Lawrence specifically. He said it when asked about Kayvon Thibodeaux\u2019s uncertain future with the team.<\/p>\n

Corner Paulson Adebo actually caught the biggest stray during the coach\u2019s 20-minute Zoom call with the New York media.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh volunteered that \u201cwe had all but three guys here\u201d on the first day for players to report for the voluntary spring offseason program: Lawrence, Adebo and a defensive lineman named Sam Roberts.<\/p>\n

He said Roberts couldn\u2019t travel due to a surgery that required \u201cstitches to heal.\u201d As for Adebo, who carries the second-highest salary cap hit on the roster at $24.1 million, Harbaugh was still waiting for an explanation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not exactly sure, but it\u2019s his right,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cIt\u2019s his reason. Whatever his reason is, I\u2019ll be interested to hear it. But it is what it is. It\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not OK with Harbaugh, though, clearly, even though he expressed \u201centhusiasm\u201d for his new team and said it was \u201can honor\u201d to coach them. And that\u2019s refreshing.<\/p>\n

Lawrence ($26.9 million) and Adebo carry the two biggest salary cap hits on the 2026 roster. Neither stayed healthy nor played well last season. Neither showed up for Harbaugh\u2019s first day with the team.<\/p>\n

And Harbaugh shouldn\u2019t tolerate that. Not if he intends to change the way the Giants enable players, constantly lose and make excuses.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh praised Lawrence and Thibodeaux at different points during the interview. He consistently emphasized that what he is focused on is incorporating these talented players into the Giants\u2019 plans and schemes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s a great player,\u201d Harbaugh said of Thibodeaux. \u201cI\u2019m excited about him. I was fired up to see him. He looks great. He\u2019s in great shape. I\u2019m thinking about him on the field. I\u2019m thinking about getting him plugged into our defense and getting him rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the head coach felt the need to remind everyone there is a new boss, and no one is above his higher standards and expectations for the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to talk about, well, is he a trade possibility?\u201d he added on Thibodeaux. \u201cEverybody\u2019s tradeable. Everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reason Harbaugh felt the need to fire these warning shots, of course, is because Lawrence publicly requested a trade on Monday. The team\u2019s star defensive tackle wants more money, and he wants out.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh seemed optimistic the Giants will work something out to retain Lawrence, 28, but he didn\u2019t guarantee anything, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll find out,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the prospects [of Lawrence returning] are gonna be high because, speaking for the Giants, we want Dexter here, and I believe Dexter wants to be here. That\u2019s a good formula. But there\u2019s business involved. It\u2019s a business proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harbaugh said he was \u201cnot surprised\u201d by Lawrence escalating the situation to a trade request based on recent conversations with his agent. GM Joe Schoen feigned surprise \u2014 or maybe was out of the loop \u2014 when questioned about Lawrence\u2019s contract and future with the team at the NFL Combine in late February.<\/p>\n

But Harbaugh clarified this has been an ongoing conversation that came to a head this week.<\/p>\n

\u201c[I] saw it coming a few weeks back probably and had good conversations with Dexter\u2019s agent, Joel Segal, and understood what they were thinking and this is where we\u2019re at,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cSo we\u2019ll try to work through it and see what we can get done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The possibility of Lawrence remaining a Giant still exists based on precedent with Harbaugh as an NFL head coach.<\/p>\n

Baltimore Ravens MVP quarterback\u00a0Lamar Jackson memorably requested a trade publicly in the spring of 2023 as Harbaugh sat down in his chair for the NFL Owners meeting AFC breakfast that March, and the organization and Jackson\u2019s team still worked out a new contract to make both sides happy.<\/p>\n

While Harbaugh said that \u201cpatience\u201d was the key to resolving Jackson\u2019s situation, though, he admitted that the \u201cgreat relationship\u201d he had with Jackson \u2014 having coached him for several years prior to that impasse \u2014 was different than the faceoff the Giants find themselves in now with Lawrence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little different because I knew Lamar at that point,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cIt\u2019s not quite that way with Dex. I don\u2019t know Dex as well. But I think it\u2019s the same in the sense of understanding that\u2019s just part of the business of the job. And it\u2019ll get resolved. It\u2019s gonna work out. Dexter wants to play. We want him to play\u2026 I\u2019m not worried about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Harbaugh isn\u2019t worried about Lawrence, however, he is clearly paying attention to how his players \u2014 his veterans \u2014 buy in to his program and his message.<\/p>\n

While being complimentary of Lawrence, he noted that anyone who doesn\u2019t show up early is going to have to play catch-up quickly when they do walk in the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou meet people where they\u2019re at when you can,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had a great day today. You build. And when guys do come back in, situations like this or personal deals or whatever it might be \u2026 you\u2019ve got to get up to speed quick. When someone comes back into the building from something like this, they\u2019ve got to hit the accelerator. And they will, and we\u2019ll be rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also noteworthy to see a report from The Athletic\u2019s Ian O\u2019Connor<\/a>, after Harbaugh\u2019s Zoom press conference, that the Giants are \u201cfine\u201d keeping Thibodeaux on their roster but would be \u201ccompelled\u201d to trade him if they received a late second-round pick or early third-round pick in return.<\/p>\n

That would be an expensive price to pay for Thibodeaux\u2019s sack production in 2025, but it\u2019s interesting that the Giants are so seriously dropping hints to outside teams that they want to make a move.<\/p>\n

The message is clear: when Harbaugh says everybody\u2019s tradeable, he\u2019s not just talking. He appears to mean it, at least in this early stage of inheriting a losing team.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh generally spoke highly of Lawrence. He called him a \u201cdominant\u201d football player. He revealed that in their most recent conversation a few weeks ago, Lawrence told him \u201che wants to play the best football of his career.\u201d And he said Segal has told him that Lawrence is \u201cworking super hard training.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The coach\u2019s plan, even though he said senior vice president Dawn Aponte and Schoen will handle the negotiating, is clearly to keep Lawrence on this team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect him to come out and be that leader by example, be that leader by what he says, what he does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh sent a clear message as the new leader of the Giants, however, that everyone should remember who is in charge.<\/p>\n

He is demanding a commitment to football and to the team. And if he doesn\u2019t get that, at least according to him, Harbaugh is content for players to play somewhere else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Harbaugh wants Dexter Lawrence to remain a Giant. He thinks Lawrence wants to stay in New York,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2067],"tags":[4092,1489,7,519,2909,1917,56,2321,2469,6,12166],"class_list":{"0":"post-859815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-contract","9":"tag-dexter-lawrence","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-giants","12":"tag-john-harbaugh","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-giants","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkgiants","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-trade-request"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}