Can Darius Alexander Fill the Massive Hole in the Giants' Revamped Defense?

Following the blockbuster Dexter Lawrence trade and a brutal injury on the interior line, the spotlight falls squarely on second-year defensive lineman Darius Alexander.

Eat Rutherford, NJ -- May 9, 2025 -- Darius Alexander talks to the media following practice at Giants Rookie Minicamp. | Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The New York Giants' defensive front is undergoing a massive change once again after trading Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals.

That leaves a glaring hole in the interior of the defensive line that Darius Alexander, entering year two in the NFL, will be expected to help fill.

With the investment of a third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, it’s fair that the Giants have expectations for Alexander to play a more prominent role in his second year.

Honestly, it’s fair to say that expectations were higher for Alexander than the return on investment was as a rookie.

The outside linebackers should be comfortable with Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Abdul Carter all back from 2025, with the addition of Arvell Reese in the 2026 NFL Draft.

On the interior, as if the loss of Lawrence wasn’t impactful enough, the Giants also just lost Roy Robertson-Harris to a torn Achilles and won’t have him for the 2026 season.

Alexander was one of just four Giants interior defensive linemen to play in 10 or more games last season - he’s also the only one who will be back and playing in 2026.

Lawrence and Robertson-Harris were the only interior defensive linemen to play all 17 games. DJ Davidson played in 15 games last year, but he joined the Commanders this offseason.

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Darius Alexander, DL

Height: 6-4
Weight: 310
EXP: 2 Years
School: Toledo
How Acquired: D3-’25

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2025 in Review

Alexander spent much of the summer dealing with a minor injury that kept him limited in practice, making him virtually invisible from the time he was drafted until camp started in late July.

Through the preseason, Alexander was still getting adjusted to the NFL level and finding his footing - even being a healthy scratch from the active roster for week one of the regular season.

Following that first healthy scratch, Alexander would appear in every game after that with two starts on both defense and special teams.

As a rookie, Alexander finished with 20 total tackles, including four tackles for a loss, 3.5 sacks, and a pass defended.

Alexander didn’t have much production from an advanced stats standpoint either, with just 15 pressures and eight of those pressures coming in three games (Saints, Lions, Raiders).

Alignment-wise, Alexander spent most of his time lined up between the 3-technique and 5-technique with Lawrence manning the middle of the line.

Block deconstruction against the run wasn’t much of an issue for Alexander, but when he would get into the backfield, he would consistently fail to finish the play at that point.

Alexander finished the 2025 season with 12 stops for a gain of three or less, but also finished with a missed tackle rate of 18.2%.

Contract/Cap Info

When Alexander was drafted in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, he then signed a standard four-year contract worth $6,762,070 with $1,557,868 guaranteed at signing.

Alexander, now in the second year of his contract, is set to make $1,536,834 during the 2026 season.

There’s virtually no world in which Alexander gets cut this year due to his projected role, age, and draft capital that the Giants spent on him just last year.

If the Giants were to cut ties with Alexander, whether that’s via trade or cut, they would incur a dead cap penalty of just $389,467.

2026 Preview

Dec 28, 2025; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith (7) is sacked by New York Giants defensive lineman Darius Alexander (91) in the fourth quarter at Allegiant Stadium. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

This will be the first summer of Alexander’s pro career when he’ll actually have time to work and develop his technique.

It also helps that under John Harbaugh, the Giants are a more serious organization that should develop players better than they did under the previous regime.

Alexander will have to play a more significant role this year than he played last year, when he averaged 24.6 defensive snaps per game.

On top of just playing more snaps in general, I would expect to see him play a more alignment-versatile role across the interior of the defensive line, especially with the injury to Robertson-Harris.

With the new coaching staff, Alexander should be given more opportunities to take advantage of the one-on-one time created by the trio of Burns, Thibodeaux, and Carter.

Those opportunities alone won’t be enough, however, as Alexander’s play needs to elevate to justify the playing time.

Rushing the passer was supposed to be Alexander’s forte when he was coming out of Toledo, but he’s going to need to find ways to be more consistent and effective to step up for a Giants defense that will be sorely missing Lawrence.

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