Tremaine Edmunds Is the Tone-Setter the Giants' Run Defense Has Been Missing

The New York Giants defense is in desperate need of new life after a 2025 season that ended up being league-average across the board as a pass-defending unit, but ranked dead last in yards per carry allowed and had the second-most rushing yards allowed per game.

That same defense will be without two of its most notable names on the interior after star nose tackle Dexter Lawrence was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals, who also joined the Giants at the bottom of the run-defense rankings, and after the Giants released linebacker Bobby Okereke.

On the defensive line, it’s going to be a collective effort to try to replicate the impact that Lawrence made for the team.

At linebacker, the Giants added multiple players. Still, they will not only be able to replace what Okereke brought to the field in 2025, but also upgrade it with the signing of Tremaine Edmunds from the Chicago Bears.

On the defensive front, the Giants will force every offensive line to have a plan in place to handle the trio of Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Abdul Carter on the edge, as well as names like DJ Reader and Shelby Harris on the interior.

With the talent up front, that should create easy lanes for off-ball linebackers to come in and make plays, which off-ball players also benefited from in 2025.

The issue was that, even though the defensive line created those lanes, the off-ball players wouldn’t make the plays they needed to.

Under John Harbaugh, that lack of effort and commitment to run defense specifically won’t be tolerated.

Tremaine Edmunds, LB

Height: 6-4
Weight: 251
EXP: 9 Years
School: Virginia Tech
How Acquired: FA-'26

2025 in Review

Edmunds had his best year out of the past few years in Chicago last season with a defense that allowed him to attack downhill.

While Edmunds saw the second-most pass-rush opportunities of his career, he was also used extensively in run blitz situations, which led to one of his better years against the run.

In 2025, he tied his career-high with four interceptions and finished with 112 total tackles, 3 TFLs, and 1 sack.

With 47 stops for a gain of three or less, Edmunds put up the second-most stops of his career, as well as looking as clean as he had in his career on film.

Positionally, 2025 was Edmunds’ most versatile year of his career, where he lined up more on the edge than he had in any other year, as well as lining up more in the slot.

Contract/Cap Info

Edmunds signed with the Giants as a free agent this past offseason with a three-year, $36M contract with $23.7M fully guaranteed at signing.

Financially, Edmunds is about as secure as a player could be with two years of massive dead cap penalties if the Giants were to cut ties.

He has a relatively small cap hit in 2026, with a cap number of just $5,560,784, but that jumps by over $10M in 2027, clearly a contract structured to manipulate the salary cap a bit.

If the Giants were to cut or trade Edmunds this summer, they would incur a dead cap penalty of $16,366,666 and only hurt their cap situation. In 2027, they would eat $15,016,666 in dead cap penalty while creating just $1,150,000 in cap space.

It’s safe to assume that for that contract structure, Edmunds is a virtual lock to make the Giants roster for each of the next two seasons.

2026 Preview

Under defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson, Edmunds should be used in a similar fashion to how Cedric Gray was used in Tennessee last season.

The biggest change from how Edmunds was used last year to how he should be used this year is that I expect him to play less on the edge and more of a pure off-ball linebacker role.

Considering the versatility of players like Reese and Carter as guys that can line up both on the edge and off-ball, there isn’t a need for Edmunds to line up on the edge much.

Edmunds is a massive upgrade over what the Giants were getting from their off-ball linebackers in 2025.

Teams will likely try to test the interior of the Giants' defensive line, both to avoid the edge talent and to exploit the gap left by the Lawrence trade.

That’s where Edmunds’ presence must truly be felt to set the tone and establish that this year, the Giants' defense isn’t one that opposing teams will be able to walk all over.

Despite his experience with eight seasons played, he’s still just 28 years old and has some room to grow further, as evidenced by his continued improvement through the 2025 season.

Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news, and send your mailbag questions to us.

Add us as a preferred source on Google