Former Clemson star Dexter Lawrence made headlines Monday, when reports emerged that the New York Giants All-Pro defensive tackle requested a trade and is skipping his team’s voluntary offseason workouts that began Tuesday.
Lawrence, 28, is seeking a new contract after two offseason of stalled negotiations. He has two years remaining on the four-year, $90 million extension that he signed in 2023, and is currently scheduled to make $20 million this upcoming season.
On Tuesday, first-year Giants head coach John Harbaugh shared his thoughts on Lawrence requesting a trade.
“We’ll find out, you know. I think the prospects are going to be high,” Harbaugh said, when asked what he thinks the prospects are of Lawrence remaining with the team. “Because, speaking for the Giants, we want Dexter here, and I believe Dexter wants to be here. That’s a good formula. But there’s business involved. It’s a business proposition. We know it’s pro football. These things happen every year, pretty much on every team.
“So, not surprised by it. I saw it coming a few weeks back probably. Had good conversations with Dexter’s agent Joel Segal, and understood what they were thinking. This is where we’re at, so we’ll try to work through it and see what we can get done.”
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport gave his take on the situation with Lawrence and the Giants, saying the “best-case scenario” is that he and the team come to terms on a contract that makes both sides happy, after less-accomplished defensive tackles passed him money-wise.
“It seems to me, based on what I’ve heard, based on the phone calls I’ve made, and just tracking this situation over the last several months – best-case scenario for both sides is for a contract situation that makes Dexter Lawrence and the Giants happy,” Rapoport said. “In other words, a new deal where everyone can agree — this guy who’s been basically the face of their defense for the last several years, one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL, at times, the best defensive linemen in the NFL – that puts him in a Giants uniform for years to come. That would be the best-case scenario.
“A trade would come, one, if the Giants decided they wanted to part ways with one of their great defenders who wreaks havoc in the middle of their defense, and two, if another team wanted to pay for a 28-year-old defender making $20 million, who is not coming off his best season. This feels to me like it is Dexter Lawrence and his agent and those close to him putting this on the Giants, saying, ‘We think our value is this. If you don’t, then you should be open to trade him.’ We’ll see where this goes. We’ve seen this several times, this time of the offseason, where a player requests a trade, then ends up with a new deal. If that is the case, if Dexter Lawrence gets a new deal out of it, this will be worth it for him.”
By his lofty standards, the 6-foot-4, 340-pound Lawrence is coming off a down 2025 campaign, his seventh with the New York Giants. In 17 games (all starts), he tallied 31 total tackles, four tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, eight quarterback hits, four passes defended and an interception that he returned 37 yards.
Lawrence’s number of sacks, tackles and quarterback hits in 2025 were all career lows. However, there’s no doubt that Lawrence has established himself as a dominant presence on the interior of the Giants’ defensive line.
Prior to the 2025 season, Lawrence collected three straight Pro Bowl selections from 2022-24 and also earned All-Pro honors in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He became the first Giants player to be voted to three straight Pro Bowls since safety Landon Collins from 2016-18, and if he hadn’t suffered a season-ending elbow injury in 2024, he could have very well earned his third consecutive All-Pro selection as well.
Heading into his eighth NFL season in 2026, Lawrence has racked up 341 total tackles, 40 tackles for loss and 30.5 sacks in 109 career games (102 starts) since being selected by the Giants in the first round (17th overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft.
NFL.com’s Kevin Patra listed eight potential landing spots for Lawrence – the first of which is him staying with the Giants.
“I’m starting with a cheat, because, frankly, I don’t think the Giants should trade Lawrence,” Patra wrote. “They should pay him the going rate to be the centerpiece of Big Blue’s interior. Trading him would leave a massive hole in the middle. Even with all their edge weapons, last season the Giants were abysmal when Lawrence was off the field. They ranked 31st in sack rate, 32nd in yards per attempt allowed, and 27th in EPA per pass in plays the DT was off the field. New York’s defense wasn’t good overall, but they were even worse when he took a breather. How would they replace him? With a second-round pick in a draft viewed as lacking? The compensation the Giants would be in line to garner at this point wouldn’t be worth gutting the interior of their new defense. Outside of a team blowing them away with a trade offer, New York isn’t going to get the requisite return for trading one of its best players.”
The other potential destinations that Patra mentioned for Lawrence include the Las Vegas Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Chargers, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars.