Dexter Lawrence Trade Grades For Giants & Bengals

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Gobsmacked. Flabbergasted. Astounded. Thunderstruck. Go through the thesaurus for surprised and you’ll find just about every reaction I had when I got the Twitter notification on Saturday night that the Giants had traded DT Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals for the No. 10 overall pick. Even though we ran a piece on potential trade destinations for Lawrence this month, there was some skepticism about how likely a deal actually was. Lawrence requested a trade amidst a contract squabble with New York, but over the last few years, that’s actually been a data point in favor of a deal getting worked out. With two years remaining on a major deal he signed in 2022, Lawrence’s leverage wasn’t great. The Giants didn’t have to trade him unless they were blown away by an offer, which it’s safe to say is what happened. The Bengals certainly weren’t on my radar to be that team. It’s incredibly rare for teams to trade top-ten picks for players, and Cincinnati historically just doesn’t do trades, period. Apart from periodic exceptions with extenuating circumstances (like Carson Palmer demanding to be traded and forcing the team’s hand by retiring, the Bengals don’t make big trades — not with sending players away and certainly not bringing them in. But faced with the prospect of history repeating itself with QB Joe Burrow , the Bengals took a big, out-of-character swing to try to fix a horrible defense. A trade still has to be finalized with a physical, and this year has hammered home that that’s not necessarily a formality. Assuming it goes through, however, how did each side do? Giants grade: A As Lawrence’s situation unspooled over the last two weeks, the Giants walked the line of not looking desperate to unload the star defensive tackle while making it clear he would be available for the right offer. New York would trade Lawrence on its terms, no one else’s. The comparison that was floated was the Cowboys’ deal for Jets DT Quinnen Williams last season, sending a second and a future first. That was viewed as an overpay at the time and most thought the Giants would find themselves hard-pressed to get anything more than a second-round pick. Not so, as it turns out. As Adam Schefter tweeted last night, the last time a top-ten pick was part of a trade for a player was in 2005 when the Raiders dealt for WR Randy Moss . That deal had a few other moving parts, whereas this trade is a clean swap of the No. 10 pick for Lawrence. It’s a massive, nearly unprecedented return. While the Giants now have a gaping hole at defensive tackle, this is a trade they had to say yes to. This pick gives the Giants two selections inside the top 10 to add two hopeful cornerstones to new HC John Harbaugh ’s program. Even in a weak class, there’s a clear top shelf of high-end talent, and this trade lets the Giants double-dip in that pool. Those players will be on cheap deals for the next four years, joining a budding young core of talent already in place. While it’s not a strong group of defensive tackles overall, there is a sweet spot for the position right at New York’s second-round selection at the top of Day 2. Adding a rookie while signing a couple of veterans who have been in for visits like D.J. Reader or Shelby Harris wouldn’t replace Lawrence, but it might be enough to keep the room afloat until next offseason. There might be bumps overall, but the Giants will be a young, hungry team on the rise with an established coach who has something to prove. Bengals grade: D+ You h…