Getty Dexter Lawrence knows how the New York Giants need to handle the future of Leonard Williams.
Dexter Lawrence got his new long-term contract from the New York Giants this offseason, but the man who lines up next to him could be playing his final season for Big Blue.
Leonard Williams carries a significant salary cap hit worth $32.26 million into the 2023 NFL season. The 28-year-old is a prime candidate to have his deal restructured or even extended beyond 2024, but so far, neither of those things has happened, and Lawrence is clear about how the team should handle his fellow defensive tackle’s future.
Lawrence said “it’s really important just to keep the group together. Keep the core together. He’s a great leader. He’s always been a great leader, and just to have him around is a breath of fresh air,” per Dhani Joseph of the New York Post.
Williams being allowed to test free agency next year would be bad news for Lawrence and the Giants. Together they form arguably the strongest one-two punch along the interior of a defensive line in the NFL.
Dexter Lawrence Keen to Preserve ‘Top-Tier’ Duo
Lawrence enjoyed a breakout season in 2022, but he’s under no illusions about how much it helps to have Williams next to him. Describing their partnership as “top-tier,” Lawrence explained how “we’ve been playing together four, going on five years now. Sometimes we look at each other and know what’s about to happen and know what we want to do in that play,” per Joseph.
The value of the Lawrence and Williams partnership was vividly illustrated by this play against the Minnesota Vikings in last season’s Wild-Card Playoffs, highlighted by Nick Falato of SB Nation’s Big Blue View.
Williams (99) took on a double team, leaving Lawrence to work one-on-one against Vikings’ center Garrett Bradbury, an obvious mismatch No. 97 won to help Williams stuff running back Dalvin Cook.
Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence are beasts on the inside
Williams sheds the combo block to STOP Cook near the line of scrimmage
This is the dilemma Williams and Lawrence pose to offensive lines. Double one and the other is free to cause havoc. Double both and Giants’ edge-rushers Azeez Ojulari and Kayvon Thibodeaux will feast.
Speaking of feasting on quarterbacks, Lawrence and Williams are just as effective creating pressure by themselves. The former set career-highs with 7.5 sacks, 36 pressures and 19 QB knockdowns last season, per Pro Football Reference. Williams chipped in with 2.5 sacks, 17 pressures and eight knockdowns, despite missing five games due to knee and neck injuries.
It’s little wonder Lawrence, who signed a four-year extension in May, wants Williams to stay for the long haul. Lawrence’s desire is echoed by Giants’ defensive line coach Andre Patterson, who told Joseph how combinations this dominant are rare: “It doesn’t happen a lot, as far as a coach in this league and when you have it, you’re real happy that you do and you try and keep it together as long as you can.”
Lawrence and Patterson want Williams’s future resolved, but they may not get their wish. Not based on recent reports about the player’s contract status.
Leonard Williams’ Status Still Uncertain
Things don’t bode well for Williams when “the Giants have shown no interest in an extension or a restructure, which would push more dead money onto next year’s cap,” according to Dan Duggan of The Athletic.
Forcing Williams to take a pay cut also seems unlikely, with Duggan rightly sounding an alarm about how that move would be perceived in the locker room. It means the Giants are in a tricky position, especially since Williams’ situation isn’t the only contract drama facing general manager Joe Schoen.
Running back Saquon Barkley also needs a new deal and has already left the door ajar for a potential holdout rather than play on the franchise tag. Signing Barkley should be the priority, but playing a waiting game with Williams has its own risks.
Letting the latter enter a contract year could motivate Williams to enjoy a banner season and send his value skyrocketing, leaving the Giants in a bidding war for his services next March. That’s a scenario Schoen has at least safeguarded against by adding Super Bowl-winning defensive tackles Rakeem Nunez-Roches and A’Shawn Robinson during this year’s free-agency period.
Robinson and Nunez-Roches are both able veterans, but neither is as dynamic as a fully healthy Williams. Nor do the new arrivals boast the same kind of rapport with Lawrence.