Giants’ Contract Talks With Dexter Lawrence Reportedly Stall

The New York Giants were hoping to avoid having to trade away their star defensive tackle but talks just haven’t materialized anything. With NFL Network reporting that talks between the two parties have hit an impasse, and the Giants are now turning the page to find potential suitors for a trade ahead of the NFL draft next week. This all came on the same day that New York general manager Joe Schoen reported that the discussions between the team and his agent were “productive,” aka just about the opposite. The three-time Pro Bowler’s trade request came after two seasons of contract negotiations that never led anywhere, and his contract is now out of guaranteed money.

Lawrence is set to earn $20 million on a deal with two years left, which would put him in the top 10 of interior defensive linemen – but at the fringe at No. 10 on that list. As a result of the contract situation, Lawrence did not report for the start of the first offseason program under the team’s new coach, John Harbaugh. This is certainly not a move he was hoping to have to make, particularly given the state of the Giants’ depth chart on the interior defensive line. Moreover, they’ll only have two top 100 picks in the draft – at No. 5 and No. 37 before they’ll have to wait till the fourth round.

Here is the full story from Giants Roundtable writer Ashish Mathur on the stalled talks and what’s next for the franchise.

Per Schoen, the Lawrence situation hasn’t altered their draft strategy, though they’re expected to take a defensive tackle in the first round. Perhaps it was meant as a complement alongside Lawrence, but now they may have to draft for the future of their interior d-line.