00:00Well, if you've been reading the New York Post the last few days, then you are not surprised
00:04what happened Saturday night. Dexter Lawrence traded away from the Giants, goes to the Cincinnati
00:10Bengals. What did the Giants get in return? Their number 10 pick in the NFL draft next week. That
00:18is a tremendous return for the Giants. Now look, Dexter Lawrence is one of the best defensive
00:24tackles in the league. Two years ago, he probably was the best nose tackle in the entire NFL.
00:30He did not play great last year and something soured between Dexter Lawrence and the Giants.
00:35He wanted more money two years ago. He wanted more money last year. Don't forget, in May
00:40of 2023, Dexter Lawrence signed a four-year, $90 million contract with the Giants. It was
00:46a great deal for the Giants. It was an excellent deal for Dex. And two years later, he went
00:52from being the third highest paid defensive tackle in the league to being the 12th. That
00:56could not sit well with Dex at all. He could not deal with that. The Giants were willing
01:01to give him more money this year, even though he had two years remaining on his contract.
01:06But Dex just got to the point where he wanted everything. He wanted more money. And if he
01:11didn't get that, he wanted out. He wanted out. That's all there is to it. So once the
01:15Giants realized that Dexter Lawrence didn't want to come back, they worked this trade. And
01:20now the Giants have the number five pick in the draft and the number 10 pick. That is
01:25gold. That is draft gold. John Harbaugh and Joe Shane can go in many different directions
01:31now. They can keep both those picks and draft two of the top 10 players in this year's class.
01:37They can trade one of them. They can trade both of them. Don't forget, the Giants have number
01:4137 overall in the second round, and they have no third round pick. The next pick from 37 until
01:47the fourth round is 105. That's 68 picks. I have a feeling the Giants will make a trade
01:52and maybe get some extra picks there. I do think the Giants have to address defensive
01:57line now with Dexter Lawrence not there. Veteran DJ Reader was in last week. I would
02:03expect the Giants to sign him. He's not Dexter Lawrence, but he's a pretty good veteran
02:06player. But now everything is wide open for the Giants. They can take the best running
02:12back, Jeremiah Lovett, number five, if he's there. They can take Sonny Stiles, linebacker.
02:17They can take Caleb Downs. Safety at 10, who knows? Now this opens up a whole different
02:23bunch of avenues for Joe Shane and John Harbaugh. They are in control of two of the top 10 picks
02:29in this draft. It's tough to see Dexter Lawrence go. He was a hell of a player for them, but
02:34he didn't want to be there, so the Giants move on. Most people did not think the Giants
02:38could get a top 10 pick or even a first round pick for Dexter Lawrence. Now he's with the
02:43Bengals. They're going to have to pay him probably close to $30 million a year to get him. That's
02:50about what he wanted from the Giants. The Giants offered him good money, but not that kind of money.
02:55And so he's an ex-Giant. He goes to play for Cincinnati and the Giants this week coming up
03:01in the draft. They have a whole bunch of options. Should be very interesting.
03:05I'm at the Knicks playoff game and the blockbuster trade of the NFL draft has just went down. Dexter
03:10Lawrence gets traded to the Cincinnati Bengals for the 10th overall pick. I mean, as a fan,
03:16as a media guy, there's two ways to break this down and we'll get into it now. As a fan,
03:22you have
03:22to be looking at it. This has been a staple for this Giants defense in this team. He has been
03:28the
03:28face of this defense in this team for quite some time, but that hasn't equated to wins. He won it
03:34out.
03:34He wanted more money. It looked like Joe Shane, John Harbaugh, and Donna Ponte were not going to play
03:40that game and they weren't going to up his contract, give him more money, especially coming off of a
03:46down year. But now Dexter gets what he wants because the Bengals are more than likely going to sign him
03:52to some extension. And the Giants for darn sure got what they wanted. A 10th overall pick of this
03:59draft that puts them at 5, 10, and 37. If you're worried about what they're going to do to replace
04:05him at 5 or 10 or 37, you're going to be able to replace a Dexter Lawrence. And not to
04:12say that all
04:13this new guy is just going to come in and just dominate right away. We're talking about a three
04:17time pro bowler here, but Dexter Lawrence was drafted 17th overall. You're telling me you can't
04:23get a stud in this draft, a stud defensive tackle, one of the top defensive tackles, if not the top
04:30defensive tackle in this draft. Great job by the Giants front office, Joe Shane, John Harbaugh,
04:37Donna Ponte for getting this done and getting a high value draft pick, a top 10 draft pick,
04:44and not allowing this to be a distraction going through the rest of the offseason program at OTAs.
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