The Giants‘ Dexter Lawrence, a homegrown, two-time, second-team All-Pro defensive tackle, has seemed detached and disenfranchised this season.
The organization’s decline clearly has worn on Lawrence, 28, who has been party to the losing as his play dipped well below his standard the past two years.
The Giants’ 2023 trade of defensive lineman Leonard Williams to Seattle, followed by their decision to let safety Julian Love walk in free agency to the same Seahawks defense, robbed Lawrence and the rest of the Giants of two key leaders, contributors and friends.
In 2024, Lawrence then struggled to contain his frustration as the defense underperformed, with players like corner Deonte Banks not putting 100% effort on the field. And that bled into 2025.
Lawrence’s long rehab from surgery on a dislocated elbow kept him off the practice field for the entire spring and for part of the summer. He was not physically ready to play anywhere close to his full capability early on in this 2025 season.
And suddenly he was the face of the worst rush defense in the entire NFL, being taken on by Giants legend Carl Banks publicly for his lack of impact on games.
So where do the Giants start building their 2026 defense during this pivotal offseason? By determining how they can maximize their highest-paid player, who is scheduled for a $26.9 million cap hit this season, and build around him.
It is easier said than done.
The most alarming part of Joe Schoen’s roster might be how bad the defense is even after the GM invested so much on that side of the ball last offseason.
Sure, there are some players on the current roster that might become better versions of themselves next season with better coaching and more accountability. Hopefully Lawrence is one of them.
The combination of Brian Daboll, Shane Bowen and Andre Patterson did not make anyone on the defense or the defensive line better. They got significantly worse.
But consider how many holes this defense has. There is no position that does not look like a major area of need.
The interior defensive line is devoid of high-end talent outside of Lawrence, and even he isn’t playing at a high level now. They need better starters alongside Lawrence and depth behind him.
That requires at least two, maybe three, key acquisitions on the interior.
The linebacking corps is led by Bobby Okereke, who profiles as a potential cap casualty. And homegrown talent Micah McFadden, who is coming off injury, is an unrestricted free agent. There are no other contributors there.
The edge rusher position features Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux, who is on a fifth-year option for now. Abdul Carter is expected to be an exciting building block, but his habits need significant improvement.
That will be a major task of the new GM and/or coach: to get through to players like Carter, who were enabled and set back under this previous regime.
In the secondary, the Giants are locked into two underperformers on big contracts in corner Paulson Adebo ($24.3 million cap hit in 2026) and safety Jevon Holland ($18.5 million cap hit in 2026).
Top corner Cor’Dale Flott is an unrestricted free agent. And there is no one else of starter quality in the defensive backfield, let alone sufficient depth.
It’s just too many holes to fill in one offseason. Which brings us back to Lawrence.
It will be interesting to see if Lawrence will feel sufficiently supported this spring as he watches the roster evolve.
He carries a $26.9 million cap hit into 2026 and has two more years remaining on his contract, but is he interested in a third straight season of irrelevance?
Will a regime change convince him to reinvest himself in the program? Or will his fatigue with this constant losing catch continue to drag him down and lead both the Giants and Lawrence to recognize that creating a clean slate might just mean shipping one of their best pieces elsewhere to bring back significant assets to rebuild a barren roster?
Because if the Giants are looking to make a trade to acquire a lot of picks in return, their two best assets will be their high first-round draft pick and Lawrence.
NFL teams generally do not get better by trading away good players or letting them walk in free agency. Certainly, the Giants have learned that better than most while Schoen has been GM.
So the best-case scenario here would be to retain Lawrence, rebuild a competent defense around him and unlock one of the NFL’s more disruptive interior defensive linemen again.
But if the Giants are not able to do that, would it be better to try to force Lawrence into another rebuilding situation where he remains seemingly uninvested? Or would it be better to ship him elsewhere and recoup assets that help the new GM and coach build a real, sustainable program?
It will be fascinating to see where this goes. One thing is clear: whoever inherits this Giants team, especially this terrible and wallowing defense, has their work cut out for them.
