New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen has been extremely active this offseason in upgrading his roster but one of his main objectives is to retain some of his core players.
Schoen inked quarterback Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million extension and then used to franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley, supposedly a placeholder until a new deal gets done down the road.
One other player on Schoen’s radar is Pro Bowl defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, who will play this season on his fifth-year option at a salary of $12.4 million.
The Giants and Lawrence’s representatives are reportedly in negotiations on an extension that will keep the massive nose tackle in blue for the foreseeable future.
And that could be costly the defensive linemen market has exploded this offseason.
“The Giants have been talking to Lawrence and his reps about a potential deal,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said during an appearance on SportsCenter. “Nothing has come together yet. But that defensive tackle market is huge right now because Daron Payne, another in the NFC East with Washington, they gave him over $22 million per year.
“So, Lawrence is going to have to be at least somewhere close to that, maybe $20-plus million. And you have Jeffrey Simmons in Tennessee. You got Quinnen Williams in New York. So, defensive tackle’s where the money’s going to be.”
The Giants will likely have to shuffle around some cap space to accommodate Lawrence. They are currently about $3 million under the league’s $224.8 million salary cap.
Fellow defensive lineman Leonard Williams said after last season that he would be open to taking a pay cut to stay with the Giants but there has been no movement on that front at this time.
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