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Evan & Tiki

Connor Hughes: Inside the Giants’ Dexter Lawrence Drama

Evan & Tiki

Audacy

Sports

4.2988 Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Giants are facing a defining moment as tension builds around Dexter Lawrence and his very public trade request. What started as a contract dispute has quickly turned into a franchise-shaping storyline, raising questions about leadership, culture, and the team’s long-term direction. At the same time, concerns about Juan Soto’s calf injury add another layer of intrigue to the New York sports landscape. Evan and Tiki and Connor break down why Lawrence’s situation escalated, what his true market value could be, and how the Giants might resolve it before things spiral. They also dive into potential draft strategies at number five, including the growing buzz around key prospects and whether the team should prioritize defense, offense, or long-term upside. The conversation explores how this offseason could redefine expectations for both the Giants and Jets moving forward.

Transcript

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0:00.0

But obviously one of the big stories today we opened with it all the way back at 10 a.m.

0:03.3

If you rewind on the Odyssey app, is the Dexter Lawrence situation.

0:07.0

So let's get the window seat on what's going to happen with Dexter.

0:10.1

And today's window seat is brought to you by WindowRama.

0:12.2

Save up to 30% on new windows and doors.

0:15.5

And the best person to try to help us figure this whole situation out, plus more around the NFL is the great Connor Hughes.

0:20.6

He does a fine job with S&Y. Connor, how are we doing today? I was doing well until that Juan Soto teaser you just dropped. Let's table the deck stuff, Evan. I want to know what the heck's wrong with Juan. He didn't want to listen to me about the soft tissue injury and his calf, and he said, oh, he'll play on Tuesday. Here's the bottom line.

0:37.8

And I said, he's going to be out for two weeks. It's not him going on the I.L. Connor, and I'll make this real quick, it's I started to do research on other calf injuries in Major League Baseball. And what I came up with is this ain't like some easy, we'll see in a week and a half, no biggie spot. Like these can be complicated, they can be tricky, they can be re-injured.

0:57.8

In fact, just to be specific, one of his teammates, he should ask about Bobauchette had a calf issue back in 2024, and it kept reoccurring.

1:06.9

And I kept Connor bringing up his favorite players, Kevin Durant. Well, that's basketball. And Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers, the cap strain that turned into it. Yep. Different sport, but yes, it can be concerning. By the way, I don't wish that on Soto. Thank you for that. He's on my fantasy team. That's the reason. What was your reaction? We were live on the air for it. What was your

1:28.7

reaction to the news that Dexter Lawrence is very nicely asking to be traded away from the New York

1:33.3

Giants? Only surprised that he made it public just because the players request trades all the

1:39.6

time. It just never gets out. You know, Quinn and Williams was one last year that requested

1:43.0

it three times from the Jets.

1:44.7

He just didn't want it known publicly because once you do that, it can put, you know, kind of a bad feeling within the locker room. It could have a bad feeling with the general manager coach, except especially if you are not traded. If you're traded, it's fine. But if you request one, you're not trading, you kept. all the players look at you and you're like, dude, what the heck?

1:59.4

AJ Brown and Philadelphia's requested a trade.

2:01.9

I don't even know how many times from Philly.

2:03.6

They keep it under wraps during the season, and then after the season you kind of find out about this stuff. So I was a little surprised with that, Evan, but it does make some sense when you look at it. I mean, this was a topic of conversation with Joe Shane at the combine. And the big reason for it is that you have a guy

2:18.9

in Dexter Lawrence who has watched teammates that he's loved leave and have immense success elsewhere,

2:24.6

whether that's Leonard Williams and Julian Love with Seattle Seahawks, Seacquan Barkley

2:27.8

with the Philadelphia Eagles. He's somebody who is absolutely underpaid now because of what

2:32.6

has happened to the interior defensive line market. The giant slapped a-Aid-ish on it, but I think it was like three-ish million dollars and guaranteed money, or not guaranteed money, but $3 million in incentives you could have earned last year based off of playing time. I think you got about a million dollars of that, but this was always done with the thought process that, oh, we're going to redo this deal.

...

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