Lawrence absent from Giants workouts, but Harbaugh optimistic

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Standout defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II requested a trade recently and didn’t show for the first day of the New York Giants‘ offseason program Tuesday. It doesn’t necessarily mean he will land elsewhere.

Giants coach John Harbaugh expressed optimism during a video call with reporters on Tuesday that the Lawrence situation can eventually get settled, with him remaining in New York. Lawrence has been hoping for a new deal from the Giants for the past two offseasons.

“We’ll find out. I think the prospects [of a return] are going to be high because the Giants, speaking for the Giants, we want Dexter here and I believe Dexter wants to be here,” Harbaugh said. “And that’s a good formula.”

Lawrence is scheduled to make $20 million this season. That would put him as the 10th-highest-paid interior defensive lineman. It’s less than players such as Philadelphia‘s Jordan Davis and Tennessee‘s John Franklin-Myers earn.

The Giants don’t want to trade Lawrence, a source told ESPN. But it appears they will at least listen to offers. Harbaugh said Tuesday when asked about Kayvon Thibodeaux‘s future that “everybody is tradable.” “Everybody” would include Lawrence, for the right price.

Multiple league sources indicated the likely return for Lawrence in a trade would be in the range of a late first-round pick or second-rounder (and more).

Harbaugh was asked directly Tuesday if the Giants are at least open to granting Lawrence’s request for a trade.

“I don’t know if granting a request is really the right way to say it because it doesn’t really work that way,” he said. “It’s not like a Christmas gift. It just doesn’t work like that. It’s business. So the business is to be the best football team that we can be and the business for him, I’m sure, is to be the best player he can be. And then there’s financial obligations, restraints, opportunities, all those things that go around that because it’s pro football. … We’ll see what happens.”

Harbaugh said as the head coach he’s going to get involved only as much as a head coach should be. He’s going to let general manager Joe Schoen and senior vice president of football operations Dawn Aponte handle the negotiations.

So far, the Giants haven’t shown a tremendous appetite to reward Lawrence with a new contract after he had one of his worst statistical seasons with 31 tackles and 0.5 sacks.

“There’s businesses involved. It’s a business proposition,” Harbaugh said. “We know it’s pro football. These things happen every year, pretty much on every team. So not surprised by it. Saw it coming a few weeks back probably and had good conversations with Dexter’s agent, Joel Siegel, and understood what they were thinking. And this is where we’re at. So we’ll just try to work through it, see what we can get done.”

Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson said they haven’t been in direct contact with Lawrence recently. Once it got to business, Segal’s preference was that the correspondence go through him.

This is something Harbaugh had to manage during his 18 seasons in Baltimore as well. Most recently, the team and quarterback Lamar Jackson were at an impasse prior to agreeing on a long-term deal during the 2023 offseason.

Harbaugh learned from that experience.

“I think we knew this going in. The way it was approached was just with patience,” Harbaugh said. “I mean, we knew that relationship. … I don’t know Dex as well, but I think it’s the same in the sense of it’s just understanding it’s part of the business and the job and it’ll get resolved. It’s going to work out. Dexter wants to play. We want him to play.

“How it’s all going to shake out, we don’t control that. We’re not given to know the future. And the only thing we really can’t control is the outcome. But what we can control is how we approach it along the way with respect professionally, absolutely.”