The New York Giants need to sign one particular player with their newly found cap space.
The New York Giants shook the NFL landscape by trading away defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence on Saturday night, reaping the No. 10 overall pick from the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange.
It was a fantastic return for the Giants, who now own a pair of top-10 selections in this week's NFL Draft.
The problem is that New York now has a glaring hole on the interior of its defensive line, and while there will be plenty of defensive tackles available in this year's class, it would strongly behoove the Giants to add a veteran.
Fortunately, there are a couple of veteran DTs still available on the free-agent market, and New York was able to free up about $12 million more in cap space with the Lawrence trade. It now possesses $18.4 million in cap room overall.
DJ Reader recently met with the Giants, and while Reader would be a great pickup, the player Big Blue should really be heavily pursuing is Calais Campbell.\
Calais Campbell. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images.Campbell is somehow still left on the open market following a strong 2025 campaign in which he registered 43 tackles, 6.5 sacks and 16 quarterback hits while playing in all 17 games for the Arizona Cardinals.
Yes, he is 39 years old, but it's clear that he is still incredibly productive in his latter years. He has tallied at least five sacks four seasons in a row, and he is still a very capable run defender, something the Giants desperately need.
Campbell also shouldn't be too expensive. He signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Cardinals last year, and it's hard to imagine he'll be asking for too much more this time around.
An ideal scenario for New York would be to sign Campbell and then nab someone like Peter Woods, Kayden McDonald, Lee Hunter or Caleb Banks in the NFL Draft.
There aren't any defensive tackles who will come off the board in the top 10 this week, but the Giants should be able to land one of those players at No. 37. Or, New York can trade down in the first round and take a DT toward the back end of Day 1.
At this point, the G-Men pretty much have to sign one of Campbell or Reader, and the former is certainly more preferable.
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