{"id":583194,"date":"2026-04-14T07:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/583194\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T07:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:29:09","slug":"giants-getting-serious-with-free-agent-dj-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/583194\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants getting serious with free agent DJ Reader"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Giants went into this offseason determined to get bigger and more stout along their defensive line. That objective could be solved if they decide to sign veteran defensive tackle DJ Reader.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old was in for a visit Monday, The Post confirmed, and this was not just a look-see meeting. Something could get done with him in the next two weeks.<\/p>\n

Adding Reader would not replace Dexter Lawrence, the disgruntled nose tackle <\/a>who wants more money added to his contract and as a result has requested a trade<\/a>. The Giants are not interested in parting ways with Lawrence, but they are interested in finding a running mate for him on the interior of the line. They have veteran Roy Robertson-Harris returning on the roster, as well as Darius Alexander \u2014 the 2025 third-round draft pick \u2014 and added 27-year-old Sam Roberts in free agency.<\/p>\n

\"DJDJ Reader visited the Giants on Monday. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Reader would be a strong addition. At 6-foot-3 and 330 pounds, he is a space-eater and known for stuffing opposing rushing attacks. A 2016 fifth-round pick of the Texans out of Clemson, Reader is a 10-year veteran of 137 NFL games \u2014 128 starts. He is not much of a pass rusher \u2014 only 12.5 sacks \u2014 and he has only 27 tackles for loss in his career. He has played for the Texans, Bengals and Lions. In 2025, he started all 17 games for the Lions.<\/p>\n

Lawrence, 28, is only halfway through the four-year, $90 million contract extension he signed in May 2023. In that deal, $60 million was guaranteed to Lawrence and that has already been paid out by the Giants, leaving him with no more guaranteed money. He is not comfortable with that, and also unhappy that he is now the league\u2019s 12th-highest-paid interior defensive lineman \u2014 he was third on that list after he signed his new contract two years ago.<\/p>\n

The Giants want to keep Lawrence and surround him with more support along the line to help fix a run defense that finished 31st in the NFL in 2025. Reader would address that desire.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo behind the scenes with Big Blue\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Giants by Paul Schwartz, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Giants announced they have signed veteran quarterback Brandon Allen.<\/p>\n

Allen is the epitome of a journeyman \u2014 spending time with the Jaguars, Rams, Broncos, Bengals, 49ers and Titans since being selected by Jacksonville in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Allen has thrown for 1,882 yards and 11 touchdowns with nine interceptions while playing in 19 games \u2014 most recently appearing for the Titans last season.<\/p>\n

Allen, 33, will add another veteran to the room with Jaxson Dart and Jameis Winston locked in atop the depth chart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Giants went into this offseason determined to get bigger and more stout along their defensive line. That…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[68034,977,349,116384,229271,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-583194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-dexter-lawrence","9":"tag-new-york-giants","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-free-agency","12":"tag-nfl-free-agency-2026","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}