{"id":861070,"date":"2026-04-08T14:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/861070\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:58:16","slug":"lions-perfect-dexter-lawrence-offer-to-giants-after-trade-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/861070\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions’ perfect Dexter Lawrence offer to Giants after trade request"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Lions<\/a> did not live up to expectations during the 2025 NFL season. Detroit finished the regular season 9-8 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2022<\/a>. The Lions deserve credit for aggressively adding talent during NFL free agency<\/a>. However, the team may need to go a step further if they want to get back into the playoffs in 2026.<\/p>\n

One player the Lions should keep an eye on is Giants nose tackle Dexter Lawrence<\/a>. The veteran defender requested a trade from the Giants<\/a> on Monday after both sides failed to agree on a contract extension. Lawrence and New York have been trying to get a new deal done for the past two years, but he clearly has given up.<\/p>\n

Lawrence is a truly unique player who could completely change the complexion of Detroit’s defensive line. As such, the Lions need to at least make a call to the Giants and inquire about their asking price.<\/p>\n

Detroit should consider offering the following trade package to New York for Lawrence following his trade request.<\/p>\n

The Lions’ perfect trade offer for Giants DT Dexter Lawrence\"NewEric Hartline-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Before we dive into any analysis, these are the terms of the proposed trade.<\/p>\n

Lions receive:\u00a0<\/p>\n

DT Dexter Lawrence
\n2026 sixth-round pick (193rd overall)<\/p>\n

Giants receive:\u00a0<\/p>\n

2026 second-round pick (50th overall)
\n2026 fifth-round pick (157th overall)
\n2026 sixth-round pick (205th overall)<\/p>\n

In this scenario, the Lions pay a heavy price to land Lawrence.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to determine exactly what Lawrence’s value on the trade market will be. The Quinnen Williams trade<\/a> set a pretty high bar, with Dallas giving up a future first-round pick and a 2026 second-round pick. New York might demand a similar trade package, as Lawrence is one month\u00a0younger\u00a0than Williams and has flashed elite play in recent seasons.<\/p>\n

But there’s just no chance that Detroit would give up more than a first-round pick for a player like Lawrence. Ultimately, the Lions offer volume with multiple mid-round draft picks, including a pretty valuable second-round pick.<\/p>\n

If that is enough to make a trade happen, it would be a great move by the Lions.<\/p>\n

Lawrence is arguably the best interior defender in the NFL. He is a talented nose tackle who can two-gap in the running game, something Detroit’s coaching staff would love. Meanwhile, he’s a monster when rushing the passer who could take advantage of the one-on-one matchups Aidan Hutchinson creates for his teammates. Remember, Lawrence had nine sacks in 2024 as one of the team’s primary pass rushers.<\/p>\n

The combination of Lawrence, Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, and D.J. Wonnum would cause plenty of problems for opposing offenses.<\/p>\n

Does Dexter Lawrence make sense for the Lions from a financial perspective?<\/p>\n

There’s no question that adding Lawrence would be a great move for Detroit’s defensive line. But can the Lions afford to take on his contract?<\/p>\n

New York signed Lawrence to a four-year, $90 million extension<\/a> back in 2023. He is still under contract through the 2027 season with cap hits of $26.96 million and $28.96 million over the next two years.<\/p>\n

The Lions could take on Lawrence’s contract and have $4.76 million left on their 2026 salary cap. But that does not factor in signing their 2026 rookie class, nor setting money aside for in-season additions. Even if the Lions do want Lawrence, they’ll need to find a solution there.<\/p>\n

There’s also the fact that Detroit has a few players coming up on contract extensions of their own. Jahmyr Gibbs and Jack Campbell are first in line for long-term extensions, which could happen anytime over the next calendar year. Any potential trade for Lawrence should factor in both Gibbs and Campbell.<\/p>\n

One lever the Lions could pull is giving Lawrence a contract extension immediately after acquiring him. In theory, the Lions could structure that new contract to lower Lawrence’s cap hits in 2026 and even 2027 if needed.<\/p>\n

Of course, going this route could put Detroit is a difficult salary cap position in future seasons. There’s simply no way to know for sure.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the Lions may need to feel extremely confident in how Lawrence could improve their defense to make an offer for him. That doesn’t mean a potential trade is impossible, but it certainly looks improbable.<\/p>\n

The Detroit Lions did not live up to expectations during the 2025 NFL season. Detroit finished the regular season 9-8 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2022. The Lions deserve credit for aggressively adding talent during NFL free agency. However, the team may need to go a step further if they want to get back into the playoffs in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Lions did not live up to expectations during the 2025 NFL season. Detroit finished the regular…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,2506,1489,7,147,22353,6,18732],"class_list":{"0":"post-861070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroitlions","11":"tag-dexter-lawrence","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-lions","14":"tag-mini-editorials","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-nfl-editorials"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116369681934649214","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861070","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=861070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}