The John Harbaugh-Joe Schoen pairing had to face its first test together with the New York Giants this offseason when star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence requested a trade amid a contract dispute. Lawrence wanted a new contract extension, and when talks stalled out, he was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals for the No. 10 overall pick.
While a top 10 pick is a great return on paper for a player in his prime who is about to get a massive amount of money, not everyone is a fan of the trade. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk warned the Giants of the downsides of trading an established star for a gamble in the draft.
“If the handling of the Dexter Lawrence situation was the first real test of the John Harbaugh-Joe Schoen regime in New York, many will conclude they failed it,” Florio wrote. “They’re losing a premier talent who is still in his prime at age 28, in exchange for the tenth pick in the 2026 draft. There’s no guarantee the player they pick with Cincinnati’s first-round selection will ever become as effective as Lawrence was.”
While Lawrence is arguably the best defensive tackle in football when he is healthy, his production did take a big dip in 2025. After notching nine sacks in 12 games in 2024, Lawrence finished 2025 with just half a sack in 17 games for a Giants defense that really struggled.
The price of the trade was a steep one for the Bengals, who are likely going to hand out a market-setting extension to Lawrence on top of losing their top 10 pick. However, this is largely viewed as a pretty weak draft in terms of blue-chip talent, so maybe the Bengals don’t think that any of their top targets will still be there at No. 10.
As for the Giants, New York now has a lot of runway to improve with a pair of picks in the top 10. Harbaugh and company have big needs at wide receiver, linebacker, offensive line and in the secondary, and now they have two premier picks to address those needs.
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