{"id":869869,"date":"2026-04-19T11:42:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T11:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869869\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T11:42:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T11:42:25","slug":"giants-avoid-distraction-but-finding-a-dexter-lawrence-replacement-wont-be-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869869\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants avoid distraction, but finding a Dexter Lawrence replacement won\u2019t be easy"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Harbaugh wasn\u2019t bluffing when he recently said, \u201cEverybody\u2019s tradeable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the biggest move of the new New York Giants head coach\u2019s tenure, the team traded All-Pro nose tackle Dexter Lawrence<\/a> to the Cincinnati Bengals for the 10th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, according to a league source.<\/p>\n

The relationship with the player selected by the Giants with the 17th pick of the 2019 draft \u2014 a pick acquired in the blockbuster trade that sent star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns \u2014 deteriorated rapidly. It was less than two months ago that Harbaugh spoke glowingly about Lawrence at the NFL scouting combine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s super, super important,\u201d Harbaugh said in February. \u201cHe\u2019s a cornerstone football player. He\u2019s not really a cornerstone \u2014 he\u2019s more like the middle stone. He\u2019s right in the middle, and he\u2019s a very big stone, and he\u2019s a very active, athletic stone \u2026 We want him. We need him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants don\u2019t have Lawrence anymore due to a conflict over his worth. Lawrence signed a four-year, $90 million extension in 2023 that made him the third-highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL. It was a shrewd signing by general manager Joe Schoen because Lawrence ascended into the best nose tackle in the NFL over the next two seasons.<\/p>\n

As inferior players blew past his contract in the defensive tackle market in subsequent years, Lawrence wanted more money. He was only able to wrestle $3 million in incentives from the Giants last summer, of which he only earned $1 million. That set the stage for a more contentious showdown this offseason, as Lawrence had no guaranteed money remaining and was due an average of $21 million over the final two years of his contract.<\/p>\n

With the Giants not compelled to give Lawrence a raise coming off a down 2025 season, the 28-year-old went on the offensive with a trade request. What initially seemed like a negotiating ploy proved to be a true desire to leave the Giants after spending seven mostly losing seasons in New York amid growing tensions over the franchise\u2019s continued unwillingness to meet his contractual demands.<\/p>\n

The Giants didn\u2019t want to get rid of Lawrence, but the relationship reached the point of no return. Once a top-10 pick was on the table, the Giants decided to pull the trigger on the blockbuster trade.<\/p>\n

That the Bengals were willing to part with the No. 10 pick illustrates Lawrence\u2019s value. Securing such a high pick was a score for the Giants, who weren\u2019t willing to dump Lawrence for a weak return.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh avoids the ugliness of a protracted contract dispute with a popular player in the locker room. A hold-in by Lawrence would have started Harbaugh\u2019s first training camp on the wrong foot.<\/p>\n

But the price for the lack of camp drama is the absence of a player who was considered the best defensive tackle in the NFL<\/a> a year ago. There is now a huge void in the middle of a Giants defense that struggled to stop the run even with Lawrence in the fold.<\/p>\n

The Giants\u2019 interior defensive line is painfully devoid of difference-makers in the wake of Lawrence\u2019s departure. The biggest winner of this trade could be free-agent defensive tackle DJ Reader, who recently visited the Giants. Reader, who is expected to sign with a team after the draft, can name his price for a Giants defense suddenly desperate for a quality veteran presence in the middle of the line.<\/p>\n

Trading Lawrence will create $13 million in cap savings, which gives the Giants much-needed flexibility. The 10th pick will have a $5.7 million cap hit, so the net savings from the trade will be $7.3 million. The Giants will eat $13.9 million in dead money as part of the trade.<\/p>\n

Trading Lawrence brings the state of the team into focus. Harbaugh arrived with expectations to win immediately. That\u2019s still possible, but trading a star veteran for a draft pick is the sign of a team still in the rebuilding stage.<\/p>\n

The trade raises the ante for Harbaugh\u2019s first draft. The Giants hold the fifth and 10th picks, though they only need to look to their own 2022 draft for a reminder that two top-10 picks don\u2019t assure anything. Still, these picks afford Harbaugh a prime opportunity to lay a foundation.<\/p>\n

The possibilities are endless for the Giants in an unpredictable draft. They could load up on offensive firepower with running back Jeremiyah Love and wide receiver Jordyn Tyson. They could replace one of those skill players with offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa. They could instead lean into the defense with a combination of linebacker Sonny Styles and safety Caleb Downs. They could split the picks with a player on each side of the ball. Or they could trade down from No. 5 and\/or No. 10. Clearly, two top-10 picks provide plenty of options.<\/p>\n

Finding a replacement for Lawrence in the draft is a tall task, especially in a weak year at the position. The Giants will likely need to go with a committee approach, signing a veteran like Reader and then potentially using their second-round pick (No. 37) on a defensive tackle.<\/p>\n

Whoever the Giants land in this year\u2019s draft, they can only hope the players turn out as good as Lawrence. And if that\u2019s the case, the hope then has to be that the Giants will have figured out a way to retain their best players. For now, Lawrence joins a growing line of top players who have departed New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Harbaugh wasn\u2019t bluffing when he recently said, \u201cEverybody\u2019s tradeable.\u201d In the biggest move of the new New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-869869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-new-york-giants"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116431194879799827","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869869","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=869869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}