The Bengals reached out to the Giants two weeks ago about Dexter Lawrence. They believed, with him, they’d be a Super Bowl contender. That’s why they were willing to part with the No. 10 pick for the former Pro Bowl nose tackle.
The Giants weren’t there yet.
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On Saturday, they arrived.
Lawrence, a captain who spent the first seven years of his career in New York, is headed to Cincinnati. The return: That No. 10 selection in this year’s NFL Draft.
An offer like that seems like a no-doubt, slam-dunk. The Giants, though, still hoped they could figure out something to keep Lawrence with them. No matter what they did, though, per sources, it “wasn’t good enough.”
They tried – and kept trying. They simply couldn’t agree to the structure of a reworked deal. Lawrence, per team sources, never even gave the team an idea of what he was looking for in terms of per-year salary or guarantees.
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So they decided to stop and shipped Lawrence away. He’s the first non-quarter traded for a top-10 pick since the Rams sent defensive tackle Sean Gilbert to Washington for the sixth pick in the 1996 NFL Draft.
Lawrence, at one point, was among the game’s most dominant defensive players. The Giants selected him 17th in 2019, but he truly blossomed in 2022. He earned Pro Bowl honors each of the next three seasons, and was a Second-Team, All-Pro the first two.
In 2024, Lawrence was a front-runner to be named Defensive Player of the Year, registering nine sacks as an interior defensive linemen in his first seven games. He suffered an elbow injury, though, that landed him on the injured reserve after Week 12.
The 2025 season was the worst of Lawrence’s career. He finished with lows in both sacks (0.5) and quarterback hits (eight). General manager Joe Schoen, at the NFL Scouting Combine, said he never felt his elbow was fully back. Lawrence also reported to training camp out of shape and never appeared to play himself into it.
In May of 2023, the Giants awarded Lawrence a four-year, $90-million contract extension. It made him the third-highest paid interior defensive lineman in the NFL. Since then, though, the market for Lawrence’s position erupted with the inflated salary cap. Entering this season, Lawrence’s $22.5 million per-year salary ranks 12th.
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He made it clear to the Giants he wanted a new deal – one that represented the surge at his position. The Eagles giving Jordan Davis a contract worth $26 million annually seemed to be a specific sore spot.
The Giants, who didn’t feel like they had to do anything, per sources, because they had Lawrence under contract for another two years, were still willing to work with him on a deal that worked for both the player and team – they added $3 million in incentives to his contract before the 2025 season. Sources described the attempted talks with Lawrence as going “nowhere.”
A trade evolved to the most appealing option. While the Giants valued Lawrence and hoped to find a way to keep him, they realized he’s going to be 29 in November, believe “his best days are behind him,” and the No. 10 pick gives them a significant resource to add to their young core.
Lawrence hasn’t had a full sack in his last 22 games.
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SNY touched base with four head coaches in the NFL after the Lawrence trade became official. All were stunned New York got what they did. Three pointed out Lawrence’s dip in production and conditioning, describing him as someone who needs his snaps limited to maximize his production. Another described him as a “one-position player.”
“Truly crazy return,” one coach said. “I truly thought the most they were getting was a second, maybe a second and fifth.”
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