The combination of the Knicks playing the Hawks in game one of the postseason, in conjunction

with Dexter Lawrence being traded to the Bengals all at the same time, that's a moment.

I don't know if it's top five.

I don't know if it's top 10.

I think a lot is still yet to be written as these song goes.

But that was a weird moment on Saturday.

As a giant fan, how are we feeling?

Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals for one draft pick.

So it ain't that complicated.

The 10th overall pick, courtesy of the Cincinnati Bengals.

I think the word to use, Evan, is refreshed.

I feel refreshed as a giant fan.

That this saga is over.

It felt like it was just hanging over the Giants' and our fans next as far as does Dexter Lawrence even want to be here?

Really even having the question the argument of, is he declining?

Is he not declining?

And in the end, I said from the beginning, Dexter Lawrence has to get you a first round pick plus.

I never saw a top 10 pick truly coming. So I'm okay with the non-plus of that because the top 10 can become plus if they choose to. So I'm refreshed. I'm energized. I'm okay if this means from a just pseudo, the Giants aren't going to win 10 games. Maybe they win seven games because it's that big a loss like the immediacy of this. But the Giants are going to be a better franchise long term having made this deal. That I feel pretty confident. That's the complication. Like, you still traded him for a lottery ticket. It's a really good lottery ticket. It's a better lottery ticket than I expected. And I will certainly admit my flaws on this discussion over the last week and a half. I did not think you would get this. And that was one of my main skepticism about trading Dexter Lawrence and why I was ready to get petty and say, screw it, bro. You got two years left on your deal. I'm not giving you what you want. Because I didn't think this trade was out there. So kudos to whoever we want to give credit to. I don't know. I don't know. Is it Donna Ponte? Is it John Harbaugh? Is it Joe Shane? I'll give credit to Dexter Lawrence's agent who wouldn't let him talk to John Horle and have him convince him to stay. Yeah, Joel Siegel, congratulations. So I think the return is very good. And I'll get to Siegel in a second, but you do bring up the point that worries me slightly. Okay. It's a great return. I am not questioning that, and it's better than I thought, and it gives you so many creative options on what you want to do in this draft, which we'll explore as we lead to a Thursday. But you're not as good as you were yesterday. Absolutely. You've taken away a key piece from your defense, and you said it many times.

They were horrible. Absolutely. You've taken away a key piece from your defense, and you said it many times. They were horrible at stopping the run last year. No doubt. And now you just took them away. Look, there's no way to defend that aspect of it. And I think a lot of the outrage and I are Giants fans may have had who were pro-keeping Dexter Lawrence is exactly that, which is this was already a position of need to fill the defensive tackle room out.

Now you just made it arguably the worst position group that exists on any team in the NFL. I want you to think of that. That is how bad the Giants de-tackle room is. Have you broken that down yet? I started to because now, again, it would be very easy to take a shot at the Jets. I would argue the Gino-Smith quarterback room of the Jets is a better, better room.

With that being said, I think I started to get more realistic about the 2026 giants over the last couple of weeks, which is where I've argued with Tiki about this, right? I've mentioned how many different holes I think this team still has off of this offseason that I don't think this offseason has been as great as everybody else had. And if I could be clear-headed about that and go, I don't think the 2026 Giants are going to win as many games as some people who have John Harbaugh fever have, then I'm okay taking that lottery ticket, dare I say even removing 30 mil guaranteed if he were to get that extension from the Giants,

that's more that they could do in future seasons and go, you know what? I want guys that ultimately still want to be here. So John Harbo has got one shot, as far as I'm concerned, to have a clean slate of a locker room. It's this shot. And if Dexter Lawrence didn't really want to be there, I'm weighing that plus the 10th overall pick, plus eventually even more money they could spend next offseason the off season after.

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