INDIANAPOLIS -- The New York Giants are about to shake up their roster. It’s the price to pay for going 7-27 over the past two seasons. Status quo isn’t an option.
At the top of the list of in-house roster decisions for new coach John Harbaugh and general manager Joe Schoen are defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II and outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux. Lawrence still appears likely to be a building block, even though there could be some minor obstacles. Thibodeaux’s future seems more uncertain. Multiple sources with other teams are under the impression that he can be had in a trade for the right price.
Lawrence has been an All-Pro player in the middle of the Giants defense the previous seven seasons. But he has looked beaten down by all the losing in recent years and is essentially out of guaranteed money is his current below-market-value deal.
Still, the Giants seem intent on making it work. He’s still one of their best players.
“How important is he? Really important. He’s super, super important,” Harbaugh said earlier this week at the NFL combine. “He’s a cornerstone football player, not really a cornerstone. He’s more like the middlestone. He’s right in the middle. He’s a very big stone and he’s a very active athletic stone. So we want him in there being a big stone.”
Harbaugh seems intent on building a big, physical football team. That is what he had in Baltimore for most of 18 seasons and what is on the way to New York. Lawrence seems to fit in that plan.
Schoen even seemed surprised by the questions at the combine about Lawrence’s future.
“I don’t know where this Dex stuff is coming from,” he said multiple times, somewhat perplexed.
Still, there are things to work out. Lawrence’s contract has two years remaining, with $20 million due this year and $22 million in 2027. Only $3.2 million is guaranteed for injury only.
On top of that, 15 defensive linemen are currently making more than $20 million per season. Despite Lawrence coming off a down year where Schoen said his surgically-repaired elbow bothered him “a little bit,” it would be easy to argue that Lawrence is underpaid. The Giants adjusted his contract last year by adding a potential $3 million in incentives.
Lawrence, a first-round pick in the 2017 draft, still demands attention. He was double-teamed at a rate of 71.3%, second highest in the NFL last season. At 28 years old, there is reason to expect a bounce back after recording just 0.5 sacks, eight quarterback hits and a pass rush win rate of 8.3%. The Giants appear to be banking on it.
Harbaugh said it’s not his job to assure Lawrence that the losing is a thing of the past. He just wants to move forward. And while the two have not met face to face, they have talked. And both the team and player appear set to move forward together.
The Thibodeaux situation seems a bit more unsettled. He’s coming off a season where he finished with two sacks and played just 10 games because of a shoulder injury. It was the third time in his four professional seasons he missed with an injury.
What the Giants have to judge is whether it’s worth trading a quality edge rusher for likely a mid-round pick. It would open almost $15 million on the salary cap to fill other holes.
Multiple sources told ESPN they’d expect Thibodeaux to fetch a late Day 2 or early Day 3 pick. Otherwise, perhaps a player-for-play deal like the New York Jets did this week for edge rusher Jermaine Johnson with the Tennessee Titans could be an option.
“Right now, Kayvon’s going to be with us,” Schoen said. “He played well. He is going into his fifth year and he’s motivated and you can’t have enough pass rushers. You really can’t. So I’m proud of the development and the maturation of Kayvon and he’s come a long way. And I expect big things out of him next year with that rotation.”
Schoen said the Giants got calls on Thibodeaux at last year’s trade deadline. He was one of their most popular players.
Thibodeaux, 25, is still young and has potential. Perhaps another team is willing to take a shot and hope he takes his game to the next level in a contract year.
The price for that wouldn’t be exorbitant. It’s why Schoen is, at the very least, listening.
“My job as a general manager is if people come and they ask if we’d be interested in trading, if we’re interested in their players, you take into consideration everything,” he said. “Doesn’t mean we’re going to do it, but we’re always going to listen. That’s my job.”
Even more so this year with the roster about to get a major facelift.