{"id":867441,"date":"2026-04-16T02:45:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/867441\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T02:45:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:45:23","slug":"the-clemson-insider-233","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/867441\/","title":{"rendered":"The Clemson Insider"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cincinnati Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. thinks New York Giants All-Pro defensive tackle and former Clemson star Dexter Lawrence would look great in a Bengals uniform.<\/p>\n

During an appearance on Up & Adams with NFL personality Kay Adams, Brown \u2014 a four-time Pro Bowler \u2014 made a recruiting pitch for Lawrence to join Cincy when asked about the idea of the Bengals trading for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cDexter Lawrence is a baller,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI think he\u2019d be even more of a baller in orange and black. I don\u2019t know how that kind of stuff goes, necessarily. I don\u2019t have all the answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawrence made headlines on April 6, when reports emerged that he\u00a0requested a trade<\/a> and was not expected to participate in the Giants\u2019 offseason workout program. The 28-year-old is seeking a new contract after two offseasons of stalled negotiations. He has two years remaining on the four-year, $90 million extension that he signed in 2023, and is currently scheduled to make $20 million this upcoming season.<\/p>\n

The thought of having Lawrence in Cincinnati is intriguing for Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019d be great. He definitely would make our football team better,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd to be honest, it\u2019s not a lot of teams he wouldn\u2019t make better, man. He\u2019s a special talent. You see him right here on some of these highlights. He\u2019s a baller, man, and I\u2019ve got a ton of respect for him and his game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adams herself called for the Bengals to be the team that makes a big splash and trades for Lawrence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Dexter Lawrence situation \u2014 nothing else has really happened, and it\u2019s still up in the air somehow,\u201d Adams said. \u201cSo here\u2019s what I understand \u2014 he demanded a trade last week. If the Giants are actually going to deal him, can we get Orlando Brown to play the agent and make it happen? Because Bengals, this could be your chance to make a move.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey still have $20 million in cap space this year. They\u2019re top 10 in projected cap space next year. Now is the time to use it, especially since you\u2019ve got to think they can land [Lawrence] without giving up a first-round pick. There\u2019s no better use for that cap space than on a guy who has consistently been one of the best \u2014 if not the best \u2014 interior defensive linemen in the league for like five years over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Former Clemson star Dexter Lawrence during the Tigers\u2019 annual Orange & White spring football game Saturday, April 15, 2023 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C. (Bart Boatwright\/The Clemson Insider)<\/p>\n

By his lofty standards, the 6-foot-4, 340-pound Lawrence is coming off a down 2025 campaign, his seventh with the New York Giants. In 17 games (all starts), he tallied 31 total tackles, four tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, eight quarterback hits, four passes defended and an interception that he returned 37 yards.<\/p>\n

Lawrence\u2019s number of sacks, tackles and quarterback hits in 2025 were all career lows. However, there\u2019s no doubt that Lawrence has established himself as a dominant presence on the interior of the Giants\u2019 defensive line.<\/p>\n

Prior to the 2025 season, Lawrence collected three straight Pro Bowl selections from 2022-24 and also earned All-Pro honors in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He became the first Giants player to be voted to three straight Pro Bowls since safety Landon Collins from 2016-18, and if he hadn\u2019t suffered a season-ending elbow injury in 2024, he could have very well earned his third consecutive All-Pro selection as well.<\/p>\n

Heading into his eighth NFL season in 2026, Lawrence has racked up 341 total tackles, 40 tackles for loss and 30.5 sacks in 109 career games (102 starts) since being selected by the Giants in the first round (17th overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

NFL.com\u2019s Kevin Patra listed\u00a0eight potential landing spots for Lawrence<\/a>, one of which is the Bengals.<\/p>\n

\u201cCincinnati usually shies away from making splash moves, particularly when it comes to shipping out draft assets,\u201d Patra wrote. \u201cThe club is also top-heavy with contracts and might not love the idea of shelling out for a player turning 29 years old. But after losing \ufeff\ufeffTrey Hendrickson\ufeff\ufeff, the defense could use an upfield force. Pairing Lawrence with free-agent veteran \ufeff\ufeffJonathan Allen\ufeff\ufeff would immediately upgrade a problem area for Cincy\u2019s defense a year ago. The postseason comments from Bengals stars underscored the need to improve the defense in 2026. Making a big play for Lawrence might be out of character for Mike Brown\u2019s club, but it would certainly make \ufeff\ufeffJoe Burrow\ufeff\ufeff and \ufeff\ufeffJa\u2019Marr Chase\ufeff\ufeff happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

First-year Giants head coach John Harbaugh recently shared his thoughts<\/a> on Lawrence requesting a trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll find out, you know. I think the prospects are going to be high,\u201d Harbaugh said, when asked what he thinks the prospects are of Lawrence remaining with the team. \u201cBecause, 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. We know it\u2019s pro football. These things happen every year, pretty much on every team.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, not surprised by it. I saw it coming a few weeks back probably. Had good conversations with Dexter\u2019s agent Joel Segal, and understood what they were thinking. This is where we\u2019re at, so we\u2019ll try to work through it and see what we can get done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cincinnati Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. thinks New York Giants All-Pro defensive tackle and former Clemson star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,5320,7,5324,5322,6,5321,5323,5325],"class_list":{"0":"post-867441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-clemson-insider-podcast","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-gymnastics","15":"tag-hero","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-noonan","18":"tag-track-and-field","19":"tag-wednesday"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116412097493269225","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867441","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=867441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}