EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Giants general manager Joe Schoen said “conversations have been really good” with Dexter Lawrence’s representatives after the All-Pro defensive tackle publicly requested a trade last week.
“I’ll echo what Coach (John Harbaugh) said last week: We’d like for Dexter to be here, and at some point we’ll come to a resolution here, whatever that may be,” Schoen told reporters Tuesday at his annual pre-draft news conference and in his first public remarks since Lawrence’s request went public. “We’ll see. But conversations have been really good. They’ve been productive. Again, we’ll see what happens here down the road.”
Schoen said he, Harbaugh and Dawn Aponte, the team’s senior vice president of football operations and strategy, have all been in communication trying to find “some resolution.” Despite the NFL Draft occurring next week, Schoen said they won’t put any deadlines on the process, adding that Lawrence is “under contract for two more years.”
Lawrence signed a four-year, $90-million extension in 2023, which made him the third-highest-paid defensive tackle in the league at the time. But he’s since dropped to 12th on that list. Lawrence has no guaranteed money remaining on his contract, so his trade request has not been a complete surprise, and Harbaugh said as much last week when asked about it as voluntary offseason workouts kicked off. The coach said, “Speaking for the Giants, we want Dexter here. And I believe Dexter wants to be here. That’s a good formula, but there’s business involved.”
Harbaugh called the prospects of Lawrence staying with the Giants “high.”
But there’s obviously a chance Lawrence could get his wish if the two sides can’t come to an agreement. When asked if they’ve been listening to offers for the three-time Pro Bowler, Schoen said, “I’m always going to pick up the phone.”
“If a team calls — maybe not to the effect that coach said last week that everybody is tradeable,” Schoen said. “But, no, that is my job as the general manager. If teams call, you take into account it’s a case-by-case basis and what the compensation may be. That’s my job to take into consideration what that looks like, what the compensation looks like, who the player is, how that affects the roster and then try to make the best decision off of that.”
Even before Lawrence’s trade request, the Giants’ defensive line depth was thin and in need of beefing up. The Giants have only added defensive tackle Sam Roberts during free agency, but the team has had other players in the building, including defensive tackle DJ Reader this week.
Then, there’s also the draft to acquire players. The Giants have the No. 5 pick, the No. 37 pick and five other selections in this year’s draft, but they don’t have a third-rounder. When asked how Lawrence’s request has impacted their draft process, Schoen said, “it really hasn’t” impacted their approach.
When it comes to the No. 5 pick, Schoen said they’ve received a “couple calls of teams sniffing around about potentially coming up,” but he doesn’t anticipate the Giants moving back before the draft begins a week from Thursday.