The Bengals made one of their biggest defensive bets of the offseason when they traded for Dexter Lawrence, a move designed to give a shaky unit a real jolt. Cincinnati needed help up front, and Lawrence’s arrival was supposed to answer that need with a proven pass rusher and a three-time Pro Bowler.
But not everybody in New York is mourning the deal. Jake Elman of GMEN HQ, FanSided’s Giants-focused site, argued that Lawrence’s absence from the NFL Top 100 is a sign the Giants were right to move on.
“We’re nearly halfway through this year’s rankings, and Lawrence is nowhere to be found,” Elman wrote. “And although the NFL’s Top 100 isn’t to be taken as gospel, Lawrence’s looming omission speaks to a broader point...
Seeing as the players vote on the NFL Top 100, it’s especially telling that they didn’t force Lawrence onto the list based solely on his reputation.”
That line of thinking is hard to ignore, even if the Top 100 has never been a perfect measuring stick. It’s the same list that somehow had Lamar Jackson at No. 69, which tells you plenty about how much weight it deserves. Still, Elman’s larger point was clear: Giants fans believe the Bengals may have overestimated what they’re getting.
There is some reason for concern. Lawrence did have a down year in 2025, and that matters for a Cincinnati defense trying to climb out of the hole it’s in.
At the same time, the bigger body of work is why the Bengals made the move in the first place. Before last season, Lawrence had been a force, and his career-high nine sacks in 2024 showed exactly why he was such an attractive target.
Now it’s on Cincinnati to prove the gamble was worth it. The Bengals need their defense to be better this season, and if Lawrence can get back to the level he showed before 2025, the move could look a lot smarter by the end of his first year in stripes.
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The bigger question is how much room there really is for another target to carve out a meaningful role. Andrei Iosivas has been working to hold his place in the rotation, while Mike Gesickis presence gives Joe Burrow yet another option in the middle of the field. If Young can translate his camp work into steady production, Cincinnati may end up with a deeper receiving group than many expected when camp opened. [Read more 🡒]