John Harbaugh was introduced into the New York Giants as a part of a tradition shift, however one vestige stays from the earlier period: Making star gamers offended. Studying nothing from alienating Saquon Barkley, GM Joe Shoen is repeating historical past as soon as extra — this time with All-Professional nostril sort out Dexter Lawrence.
Rumors had swirled in current weeks that Lawrence and the Giants weren’t seeing eye-to-eye on a contract extension, however now it seems issues are a lot, a lot worse. A brand new report from Pat Leonard of the New York Day by day Information states that each one conversations between the Giants and Lawrence have damaged offwith the group now pivoting to groups to look into potential commerce eventualities.
There can be no scarcity of suitors for Lawrence, and with the NFL Draft being simply over every week away, presumably each crew in search of DL assist might be in on the Giants’ star. These are the groups that take advantage of sense.
This one is slightly tough to work out and preserve Chicago below the cap, however everybody across the NFL finds methods of subverting their cap figures by kicking the can down the highway.
The Bears are an absolute lock to search for a defensive sort out early within the 2026 class, and being a playoff crew in win-now mode dictates that sending away the N0. 25 decide for Lawrence would make an terrible lot of sense for them. It is a crew in dire want of assist to cease the run, and Lawrence’s all-consuming presence within the center would additionally open up go speeding alternatives for Montez Sweat.
Chicago remains to be constructing out its defensive entrance, however Dexter Lawrence is a hell of a approach to jumpstart that course of.
There’s fairly actually shared DNA right here, opening the door for a Harbaugh-to-Harbaugh deal. Los Angeles has strong go rushers who’re totally let down by their atrocious play in the midst of the road. Whereas the crew signed Dalvin Tomlinson as a stopgap resolution, he’s actually not good within the main nostril sort out function, with Lawrence being a lot, a lot better.
That is one other playoff caliber crew that would simply change into a contender with only a transfer or two. Lawrence represents the form of defensive shift wanted to vary all the things.
The Panthers aren’t shy in relation to making large strikes, and there’s already commerce historical past with the Giants from the Brian Burns deal in 2024. There have been quite a lot of pre-draft feedback from the Panthers about discovering extra weapons for Bryce Younger, and that would very nicely be the case — however that might be quite a lot of smoke popping out of Charlotte too.
Bobby Brown III is the weakest a part of the Panthers protection now, and Dexter Lawrence may make Carolina completely terrifying. A line with Derrick Brown and Lawrence, set off by Jaelan Phillips speeding off the sting may make for one of many higher models within the NFL.
It might be a daring play, however the Panthers need to win proper now whereas their window is open within the NFC South. This transfer would obtain it.
Put this on the very fringe of being attainable, however you’ll be able to by no means, ever depend Jerry Jones out of an enormous transfer. Dexter Lawrence would give the Cowboys the run stopping they crave, and pairing him with Kenny Clark provides quite a lot of push on the within to cease large performs.
The most important stumbling block right here is imagining the Giants buying and selling Lawrence inside their very own division. An contained in the NFC East commerce may result in a tax on the deal that’s untenable, and Dallas is unlikely to be keen to supply the No. 12 decide in a deal.
The Titans are going by means of a tradition shift proper now and have an absolute boatload of cap area to make an extension occur. Anchoring their line of defense with Dexter Lawrence can be an enormous boon for brand new coach Robert Saleh, however the query is compensation.
Giants followers can cease rubbing their arms collectively hoping for No. 4 total — that isn’t occurring. Nevertheless, if the marketplace for Lawrence is softer than anticipated, there is likely to be a window to surrender a excessive 2nd spherical decide within the deal. It makes quite a lot of sense for Tennessee, although it could be crushing for the Giants to lose a Professional Bowl DT and never get a 1st for him.
Are there every other groups you see being able to make an enormous deal for Dexter Lawrence?
