The Giants can’t replace Dexter Lawrence, but John Harbaugh is still going to try by committee.
New York agreed to terms with former Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Shelby Harris on a contract Wednesday, making their first meaningful addition to the interior defensive line since Lawrence was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals before the NFL draft.
The Giants drafted defensive tackle Bobby Jamison-Travis in the sixth round on Saturday, but Harbaugh said the Giants knew they had a lot more work to do at the position.
“Defensive tackle, we’ll be talking about that,” the coach said. “It’s still something we have to continue to address. We’re not finished with that at all.”
Harris, 34, is a 6-2, 288-pound veteran who played the last three seasons for the Browns. He played all 17 games in 2025, starting five of them. He had 32 tackles, seven tackles for loss, five quarterback hits, four passes defended and one sack.
The idea will be for Harris to help the Giants’ NFL-worst run defense on first and second downs in the hopes that they can create more third and longs and unleash a pass rush that features edges Brian Burns, Abdul Carter and Kayvon Thibodeaux, as well as No. 5 overall pick weak side linebacker Arvell Reese.
The Giants still need to add more on the defensive line.
They needed more help on the defensive interior before the Lawrence trade. So losing one of the most disruptive interior D-linemen in the league calls for prioritizing that position in free agency, which continued throughout the spring and summer.
The Giants appeared poised to potentially select Ohio State defensive tackle Kayden McDonald in the second round, but the Houston Texans traded over New York to pick McDonald just ahead of them.
The Giants took Tennessee corner Colton Hood and said he was their target the whole time. Either way, the Texans clearly felt they needed to jump the Giants to take one of the better run-stopping defensive linemen in the draft.
The belief recently was that the Giants would sign Detroit Lions free agent defensive lineman D.J. Reader and maybe Harris too, but so far only Harris has joined on and Reader remains a free agent.
Reader is the kind of free agent who may be weighing his options between a contending team and a team like the Giants who might have to overpay to lure him to the Big Apple.
No matter how the Giants proceed, they can’t be done addressing their defensive line and their run defense. It was the worst run defense in football last season, and it hasn’t gotten any better with the trade of Lawrence, a two-time second-team All-Pro.
Harbaugh requires size and run stopping prowess on the interior of his defensive line in his defensive scheme, and he cannot start his tenure without sufficient play up the middle after Lawrence demanded a trade away from Joe Schoen and the Giants.