Pat Leonard: John Harbaugh will send message with result of Dexter Lawrence standoff

Trading Lawrence is defensible for Harbaugh here, too, though.

He has inherited a team that does not have significant draft capital for a losing roster in their current state. More draft picks would mean more young players who could be indoctrinated quickly into Harbaugh’s new program and set of expectations. Their controlled contracts could help steady the Giants’ salary cap.

Trading Lawrence would point the arrow on this team where Harbaugh continues to angle it: toward the future. Frankly, if the Giants are being realistic internally, that is where their most promising days lie: in 2027 and beyond, more than here in 2026.

There is no guarantee how many healthy games the Giants will get out of Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo this fall, and a poorly managed salary cap has limited just how much work the Giants could do on this roster in the first place.

On top of all of that, Lawrence’s trade request indicates he is not all-in. At least not here. Not at the moment. Not in the way Harbaugh describes it.

The basis of Lawrence’s trade request is money, of course. But this is an elite player who is tired of losing. He is not interested in rebuilding. He has seen a lot of friends escape and win.

Last season’s country club workload for Lawrence from Schoen, Brian Daboll and the Giants’ training staff, on his way back from elbow surgery, also does not bode well for an adjustment to the grueling program Harbaugh is promising.

Honestly, Lawrence is an obvious candidate for a change of scenery and a fresh start doing him some good.

Harbaugh called out corner Paulson Adebo unprovoked for not showing up to the start of the Giants’ spring program, so imagine how he feels about a player like Lawrence saying out loud that he wants to be traded off the team.

One does not have to imagine too long. Harbaugh’s “everybody’s tradeable” comment one day after Lawrence’s trade request, in answer to a question about Kayvon Thibodeaux, was not a coincidence.

He values Lawrence as a player. He knows what he means to a defense and a team. He certainly knows he cannot trade Lawrence for pennies on the dollar.

But he also wants players who want to be here, who are bought in and who are committed to everything Harbaugh is preaching about working, building and showing up.

He now has to decide what tone he wants to set to start his regime with how he resolves this situation with Lawrence.

Playing hardball with Lawrence, dragging this deep into the summer, not adjusting his contract and fining him during training camp would be a worrisome way for Harbaugh and the Giants to proceed.

It would reflect they are prioritizing stubbornness and arrogance over the facts of the situation, something they have been known to do plenty in the past.

Paying or trading Lawrence, however, both make sense in their own right. What Harbaugh chooses will say everything about how he intends to run these new Giants.