Giants' DL Dexter Lawrence Lands on Surprising Offseason List

The New York Giants' 2025 season didn't go anywhere near what the franchise had hoped for from the outset over a year ago, but that isn't slowing them down from setting even higher expectations this time around as the NFL offseason begins.

Spurned by the recent hiring of John Harbaugh as their new head coach, the Giants believe they have some of the right pieces in place to start rebuilding a winning foundation.

With a few bold moves in free agency and the draft, they could be on their way towards playing relevant football and entering the postseason discussion again.

Unfortunately, the tough part about the team's aspirations for the 2026 campaign is that they won't come to fruition without some level of sacrifice.

The Giants have a decent amount of draft capital to spend on quality prospects in this year's class, but their cap situation is far from friendly. It might need some internal shakeups if they really want to be involved in the bidding wars for the league's top incoming free agents.

One way this could come about is through potential trades of select in-house players who carry large cap hits or no longer fit what the organization's strategy.

Bleacher Report just came out with a surprising shortlist of top trade assets for the Giants to consider moving on from, instead of a sizable return on the 2026 salary cap.

Among the three players on their list, the most eye-popping name suggested by B/R analyst Alex Ballantine was none other than the centerpiece of the Giants' defense: defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.

"Dexter Lawrence is still one of the best nose tackles in the league, but he's been frustrated with losing in New York," Ballantine said.

"His contract runs through 2027, and if the Giants don't feel like they can make headway on an extension, they could probably get a nice return in a trade."

According to Over the Cap, Lawrence is scheduled to make $26.958 million in 2026, marking the second-highest cap charge behind only Brian Burns on the team's checkbook.

A potential trade over the offseason would provide the Giants with significant cap relief, especially if it occurred after June 1st, when the team would accrue $20 million in savings. A pre-June 1 move would still save about $13.04 million but also cost the Giants almost $14 million in dead money.

Both scenarios would give the Giants a nice chunk of new change to work with, but could they really consider shipping off one of the best talents and overall leaders in their locker room?

The other two options on Ballatine's list were outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux and cornerback Deonte Banks. Those two seem way more likely for a pair of players who have been losing their roles on the Giants' defense and could still garner close to equal space if they were moved.

Should the Giants Listen to Trade Offers for Dexter Lawrence This Offseason?

New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II (97) speaks at a press conference during day one of the New York Giants training camp at Quest Diagnostics Giants Training Center in East Rutherford on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When John Harbaugh took the job as the Giants' new head coach, he made a sharp statement in his introductory address about wanting to have players in the building who "love football" and moving on from those who don't seem to be bought into the direction the franchise is headed.

That has created some speculation about the fates of a handful of incumbent players in the organization, including Lawrence, who is coming off arguably his worst season as a pro, during which he registered just 31 total tackles, 0.5 sacks, and 34 pressures, with the final two stats being his worst in the previous four seasons.

Often, the star defensive tackle seemed checked out when it came to talking about the continuous losses that New York was piling onto their record this past season, leaving some to wonder whether a potential trade request was brewing behind the scenes as the defense continued to spiral out of control.

Nonetheless, the Giants shouldn't read too much into all the off-the-field gossip surrounding Lawrence and his place on the team.

He is undoubtedly one of the game's best gap stuffers, simply tired of the losing standard that has engulfed the franchise and waiting for the right leadership and pieces to join him in turning things around.

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Look no further than what he was doing in an injury-shortened season in 2024, when he was leading the entire defense in sacks (9) and just outside the top 25 position players in total pressures created (36).

All of that was going on while the Giants were just 13th in the league in pass-rush win rate and didn't have as talented an edge group as they built in the following offseason.

In 2025, Lawrence's numbers took a significant hit, but perhaps part of that was him trying to shake off the rust from rehabbing the elbow injury he suffered late in the 2024 season.

The rest of his struggles can be summed up by the fact that he has been one of the most double-teamed defenders in the sport, fighting off extra attention on 71% of his pass-rush snaps, the second-most in the NFL.

With that much effort being made to slow him down, it's not all that crazy to see his numbers go down. It's not a lack of effort on the three-time Pro Bowler's part and more so a sign that the rest of the Giants' defensive front needs to step up to the plate and make it harder for opponents to simply put the bullseye on his back every Sunday.

That will be one of the challenges the Giants and new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson will face as they revamp the defense to be more aggressive, especially in the trenches, where the unit was killed at nearly a historic rate on the ground and allowed the second-most yards per contest.

As for Kayvon Thibodeaux and Deonte Banks, who were also mentioned in Ballantine's analysis, a stronger case could be made for either.

Sep 28, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux (5)reacts during the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers at MetLife Stadium. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Thibodeaux has seen his impact in the pass rush nixed by injury, and the arrival of Abdul Carter, whose versatility is key, made his presence felt with a team-leading 76 pressures.

Banks has become a sour subject in the Giants' secondary as well, with the criticism building over his lack of growth in coverage and his lackadaisical effort at times.

The greater chance of a return might come from Thibodeaux and a team in need of bolstering their pass rush with a veteran who has an 11.5-sack season on his resume. Banks may just become a cap casualty unless the Giants can find him another role as they did late in the year on special teams.