After trading away their best player, a unique talent when he is at his best in Dexter Lawrence, can the New York Giants find a way to be better on the defensive line in 2026? Let’s examine the question as we continue our position-by-position “better or worse” series.
Key additions: D.J. Reader, Shelby Harris, Zacch Pickens, Sam Roberts, Leki Fotu, Bobby Jamison-Travis
Key losses: Dexter Lawrence, Roy Robertson-Harris (injury), Rakeem Nunez-Roches, D.J. Davidson
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The roster: Darius Alexander, Anquin Barnes Jr., Ben Barten, Leki Fotu, Chauncey Golston, Shelby Harris, Bobby Jamison-Travis, Zacch Pickens, D.J. Reader, Sam Roberts
*** Rookies in bold
Why they could be better
With the trade of Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals and the loss of 17-game starter Roy Robertson-Harris for the season to a torn Achilles tendon, this is not an easy case to make.
They “could” be better, though, because they “could” have more depth. And, they “could” get better play from a couple of returning players.
Veteran nose tackle D.J. Reader is about as well as the Giants could have done in finding a replacement for Lawrence. Reader will never be the player the 2022-2024 version of Lawrence was, but can be a reasonable facsimile of the run defender Lawrence was in 2025.
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The 35-year-old Harris vs. the 32-year-old Nunez-Roches is probably a wash. Maybe Jamison-Travis is a better nose tackle backup for Reader than Davidson was for Lawrence.
Pickens, Roberts, and Fotu have all had nondescript careers to this point. The Giants have to hope to get adequate rotational play from at least a couple of them.
Maybe the biggest hope for improvement lies in holdovers Alexander and Golston.
A third-round pick a year ago, it took a while for Alexander to earn consistent playing time. The 6-foot-4, 310-pound Alexander’s run defense (30.3 Pro Football Focus grade) left much to be desired as a rookie. Entering his age 26 season, Alexander doesn’t have a lot of time for development. His run defense is either going to get better or he isn’t going to find a lot of playing time.
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The signing of Golston as a free agent last offseason was looked at as an excellent move. Unfortunately, injuries and the drafting of Abdul Carter limited him to just 10 games and a career-low 174 defensive snaps. The injury to Robertson-Harris could open the door to the 6-5, 277-pound Golston seeing full-time duty as a base 3-4 defensive end, and more snaps for Golston could be a good thing for the Giants’ defense.
There is one other factor — coaching.
Under then-defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, the Giants’ 2025 run defense was the worst in the NFL. After Bowen was fired and Charlie Bullen placed in charge, that facet of the defense improved dramatically. Dennard Wilson is now the defensive coordinator, with Bullen as outside linebackers coach and run game coordinator. With Lawrence gone, this group will not have a star. With Wilson and Bullen, it might, though, have a better plan.
Why they could be worse
Lawrence, at his best, has done things no man his size should do from the nose tackle position. The Giants cannot replace him with a single player who is equally as talented. He wanted out of New York, and the Giants did the right thing by obliging — as head coach John Harbaugh said, you want players who want to be on your team. Still, losing Lawrence was unfortunate.
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Maybe Reader, a sixth-round pick in Jamison-Travis and scheme, isn’t enough to make up for the loss of Lawrence. Maybe Golston and Alexander don’t give the Giants more this season. Maybe the loss of Robertson-Harris is felt more than we want to believe. Maybe none of the journeyman free agents or undrafted players the Giants signed will prove to be reliable rotational pieces.
The verdict
Harbaugh has said he wants to build the best offensive and defensive lines in the NFL. Losing Lawrence was not the way he had hoped to start building the defensive line. The Giants did a good job in collecting options on the line after trading Lawrence. Did they do a good job actually collecting talent? Only time will tell.
There is no way to credibly say they are better now than they were last year on the defensive line. They are less talented than they were with Lawrence and Robertson-Harris. That is undeniable. Could they end up playing better as an overall group? Yes, but that is something they are going to have to prove.
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