When the Giants traded Dexter Lawrenceto the Cincinnati Bengals last month, it created a big hole in their defense.
Lawrence had requested a trade because there was no guaranteed money included in the final few years of his contract, so it was no surprise that New York moved him. However, it left them with a defensive interior that was sorely lacking in depth and talent.
Heading into the 2026 NFL Draft, the projected starters would have been Roy Robertson-Harris and Darius Alexander with no depth whatsoever behind them.
Robertson-Harris started all 17 games in his first season with the Giants, but his main contributions came against the run as he didn’t record a single sack. Alexander only started two games in his rookie season but did show some promise as a potentially disruptive pass rusher, as he had three sacks in the last six games to end the season with 3.5.
However, neither of them has the requisite size to take on a traditional nose tackle role. Lawrence’s listed weight is 342 pounds, which is 32 lbs heavier than Alexander and 42 heavier than Robertson-Harris.
New head coach John Harbaugh’s defenses have traditionally employed such a player to anchor their run defense, with the likes of Haloti Ngata, Michael Pierce, John Jenkins, and Brandon Williams excelling in that role over the years. Clearly, therefore, New York would be looking for a nose tackle in the draft, along with an overriding need to add more depth on the interior generally.
Surprisingly, they didn’t address the need in the first five rounds, although their sixth round pick was the 328 lbs Bobby Jamison-Travis from Auburn, so at least that brings the team someone who should be capable of competing for time within that nose tackle role.
Having loaded up at most other positions, the selection of Jamison-Travis was clearly not sufficient to address the depth concerns, but New York has made a series of moves since the draft to fill out its rotation with experienced players and perhaps create a healthy competition for roles.
They began by signing veterans Leki Fotu and Shelby Harris last week, then claimed Zacch Pickens off waivers and finally signed another veteran: DJ Reader.
Fotu is a 27-year-old former fourth round pick who started nine games in 2022 and another nine in 2023, as he looked to be an ascending player entering his prime. However, he’s suffered a series of injury issues over the past two seasons, missing a total of 24 games. The Giants will be his fifth team in four years, but they will hope he can still produce if healthy so he can give them another nose tackle option.
Harris will be 35 when the season begins, but he still played over 500 snaps for the Browns last season and has started 89 games in his career. He has had three different seasons with more than five sacks, although he only has six in total over the past four seasons, so he’s more of a rotational option now. Harris is listed at under 290 lbs so he would be a 5-technique rather than a nose tackle in Harbaugh’s defense.
Pickens, who is another smaller interior defender at 303 lbs, was considered a promising draft prospect having been selected on Day 2 by the Bears in 2023. After failing to make their roster ahead of his third season, he spent most of the 2025 season on the Chiefs practice squad, so he will be more of a reclamation project.
The 330 lbs Reader is the highest-profile addition here, and the most likely to be the starter at nose tackle. He’ll be 32 in July, but he’s been a full-time starter for virtually his entire career and started all 17 games last year.
Reader, with Fotu and Jamison-Travis behind him, gives the Giants a viable nose tackle to anchor their defense in the running game. However, that wasn’t the only way Lawrence contributed with New York. He was also on the field all the time in passing situations, racking up nine sacks in the first seven games of the 2024 season. Although the sacks dried up for Lawrence over the past season and a half, he was still disruptive within pass rushing packages, constantly commanding double teams to allow others – Brian Burns in particular – to make impact plays.
If Robertson-Harris is joined by Reader and Harris as the starting three-man front in the base defense, that will give the Giants an interior trio of players who combined for just one sack in 51 games last season. That could be where Alexander comes in. He could get an opportunity to build on his pass rush production down the stretch and Harbaugh can also be experimental in terms of his blitz packages with Burns, Abdul Carter and Arvell Reese all likely on the field at the same time.
Overall, you can’t say that the Giants have neglected the position, although they are relying to an extent on older players that may be past their prime and younger players who are yet to live up to their potential.
It’s not unlike the offseason strategy the Jets had last year at the same position. They brought in veterans Derrick Nnadi, Jay Tufele, and Byron Cowart to compete for a role, but none of them really worked out for various reasons and the Jets ended up trading for two more defensive tackles – Harrison Phillips and Jowon Briggs – before the season started.
The big difference between that plan and what the Giants have done here, is that the Jets still had Quinnen Williams at the time. By contrast, the Giants are rebuilding the unit almost from scratch, without their interior talisman. The Jets ended up with the fourth worst run defense in the league last season, and it will undermine the Giants’ efforts to compete if their plan yields similar results.