How John Harbaugh Plans to Work Through Contract Impasse with Dexter Lawrence

Over the course of his 18 seasons, New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh has seen a lot, including high-profile stars balking at continuing their careers with the team amid a contract dispute.

Harbaugh, who last faced that situation in 2023 with the Baltimore Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson, only to have that situation resolve itself before the draft, now faces that situation with Giants defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, who is exercising his right to sit out the voluntary offseason program over his unhappiness with his contract, which has reportedly led to him requesting a trade.

“I’m not surprised by it; we’ll try to work through it,” Harbaugh told reporters during a video call on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old Lawrence, who is still in his prime, has been looking to have his contract adjusted for at least two years after his $22.95 million APY fell out of the top 10 at his position.

He’s also coming off a “down” year for him, in which his season-ending elbow injury from 2024 was apparently more of a factor in his performance than he admitted.

While Lawrence didn’t rack up anywhere near the 9.0 sacks he had in 2024 before his injury, his impact was still felt on the field, versus off it.

Lawrence has recorded 103 quarterback pressures over the last three seasons, according to data culled from PFF, the most of any nose tackle during the regular season in that span.

He also ranked sixth out of 127 interior defensive linemen last year in pass-rush win rate, and the Giants felt his absence when he was off the field: the defense allowed 5.2 yards per play when he was on the field and 6.7 yards per play when he was off.

While Jackson and Lawrence are two different people, the principles behind their respective standoffs are all about money, and Harbaugh believes that what worked with Jackson will hopefully work with Lawrence.

“The way it was approached was just with patience,” Harbaugh said of the lessons he learned with the Jackson contract standoffs.

“It's a little different because I knew Lamar at that point. I don't know Dex as well. But I think it's the same in the sense that it's just understanding it's part of the business, and it'll get resolved.

“The only thing we really can't control is the outcome,” he continued. “But what we can control is how we approach it along the way with respect.

"All these players, all these coaches, all these front-office people in this league deserve to be highly respected. I'm sure it'll be handled in a real high-level way like that, and I'm not worried about it.”

Although there seems to be a wide enough gap between the two sides, Harbaugh sounded confident that a peaceful resolution will be reached between both parties, ensuring that the team’s longest-tenured defensive player will continue anchoring the middle of the Giants' defense for the foreseeable future.

“I think the prospects (of Lawrence staying with the Giants) are going to be high,” Harbaugh said. “Speaking for the Giants, we want Dexter here. And I believe Dexter wants to be here.”

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