Well, this just in. News coming across the NFL. Dexter Lawrence being traded to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange. The Bengals giving up the 10th pick in the NFL draft. The Giants now owning the fifth and 10th pick in this year's draft. But Giants trade Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals. A deal that includes the 10th overall pick according to multiple reports. The move coming after Lawrence requested a trade earlier this month. Lawrence, he's a twotime second team allpro and threetime pro bowler. He only recorded half a sack last season. That was the lowest total of his career. And to dive a little bit more into this trade, we're joined by CBS Sports NFL

analysts Lejay Duzible and Emory Hunt as Dexter Lawrence. Hey, he gets his wish fellas and gets his way out of the meadowlands. But Emry, I want to come to you first because we know the Giants, they were trying to do what they could to keep a player like Dexter Lawrence with the Giants. But the right offer, it came in and I want to get your initial reaction to the move. Shocked because I was at the Joe Shane press conference earlier in the week where he came out and opened up the press conference by saying, "Hey, I know the big story is about Dexter Lawrence.

We've had communications. Things are going well. They're in a good place." And then when I got home about 30 minutes later, everything went to you know what and here we are right now talking about him being traded. So shocked is a is an understatement because that's a intricral piece to that defensive front that makes everything around that defense work. And to lose that type of player up front now you have a gaping hole, pun intended, on the interior of your defensive line and now you have to find someone that can give you at least something similar to that from Dexter Lawrence that you just gave away to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Yeah, people may say this is a lot of draft capital for Dexter Lawrence, but I'm if I'm the Bengals, I'm making this move 10 out of 10 times. This is a massive move for the Cincinnati Bengals. And Keani Emory, it's all about maximizing the time that Joe Shisty has at quarterback. You saw last year he got kind of frustrated how things were going after the injury and coming back. The defense has really struggled mightily. They've tried to revamp it this off seasonason bringing in Jonathan Allen and Boy Maf. But boy do they have the right man in the middle. Actually was just talking to his new teammate who was his former teammate BJ Hill who was a DT

tackle for Cincinnati Bengals. And boy was he excited to get back with his former teammate. When I talked to interior offensive lineman in the NFL, the name that is most feared among defensive tackles is this guy right here, Dexter Lawrence. And I know people call him sexy Dexi, but his game is anything but sexy. He's a physical brawler in the middle of that defense. So like Ery, I'm shocked that the Giants moved off of him, but if I'm the Bengals, people may say the number 10 overall pick is a lot of draft capital, but he makes everybody better because you cannot just block Dexter Lawrence with one guy. You have to put minimum four hands on this guy each and every play, which frees up other people. The

Cincinnati Bengals defense got significantly better with this trade. That's exactly where I wanted to go, Le, because like you said, his nickname might be sexy Dexy, but it ain't sexy how he plays. He plays nasty on the field, but just how much better does this make this Bengals defense who struggled in a number of categories defensively last season? Yeah, Kiana, you can name them. They couldn't stop the run. They couldn't stop the ball getting thrown over their heads. So, when you have a guy in the middle like Dexter Lawrence, he's going to plug up the middle of that defense, which is going to allow those two young linebackers who were rookies last year to free flow over the top. And you see their numbers right there on the

defensive side of the ball. They were 30th in points per game, yardage per game, 31st, and last in yards per play given up. Those young corners on the backside, the quarterback is not going to be able to hold the ball as long because Dexter Lawrence is going to get double, which means Boy Maf is going to get one-on-one. BJ Hill is going to get one-on-one on the other side of DTackle. So guys are going to be able to come after them in waves. And now you have Jonathan Allen, too. So now you have three quality defensive tackles that can really get after the passer. Look for Al Golden to play a little bit more man coverage because he went to a zone cover concept last year, which he didn't do at

Notre Dame. And I think it didn't really highlight the skill set of their young secondary players. Now with Dexter Lawrence in that middle, the ball's going to have to come out a lot hotter. I've said this since Ben. If you are strong down your battery, that center, nose tackle, Mike backer, quarterback, running back, you are going to be a fantastic football team. Even free safety, you got to be strong right down the middle. Everything else is cosmetic. They bring in Brian Cook as their free safety coming in from Kansas City who's a fantastic player. You have Dexter Lawrence, you have Joe Burrow, you have Chase Brown. Now they have to really

lock in on their inside linebacker and center position. I know Ted Harris is there. maybe improve there a little bit maybe in the draft, but that's where the Bengals foundation has to start. I thought they did a great job in getting Dexter Lawrence because we know like Leger talked about, you lock up that interior, one-on-one opportunities on the outside, that ball is going to have to come out quick. And if you got guys coming off the edge, they'll have a team meeting at the quarterback. So, getting someone right in the middle of your defense is huge for your team overall success. and the Bengals have a lot of key pieces already in place to find themselves working back up that AFC North uh standings as we get closer

to the season and hopefully for seasons in. Okay, so most certainly boating well for the Bengals. But what about the Giants now? Because you're missing a guy like Dexter Lawrence. You're talking about having a strong person right there in the center of that D line. But Giants, for what it's worth, Hayden, they now have the fifth and the 10th overall picks in next week's draft. Li, so where do the Giants go from here? And just how, if they even can, can you find a place to find a person to replace a guy like Lawrence in this draft? And that's the question, Kiana. There's nobody that's going to be able from day one to replace what Dexter Lawrence is going to do for the Cincinnati Bengals

up the middle of that defense for the New York Giants. But with the added draft capital, right, I look for them to potentially go with a pass rusher or a linebacker at the fifth overall pick. And at that 10th pick, right, maybe even potentially Trey down a guy that me and Emry were talking about, Peter Woods, makes a lot of sense. The only thing is he's a different body type in this 34 Dinard Wilson's defense. He played mainly probably that fourey three technique where they're looking for a nose tackle. A guy that, you know, that I like, but isn't Dexter Lawrence is Kaye McDonald at the back of the first round if the Giants were to trade back, he's more of a first and second down uh

player. He's going to help you in that run defense, but the difference between him and Dex, Dex is more athletic and can get after the passer. So, there's no player in this draft that you would say could come in and give you what Dexter Lawrence is giving you as far as production in the middle of that defense. What you're hoping to do is with this added draft capital, surround pieces around to maybe make that loss not as significant that Dexter Lawrence is now gone and with the Cincinnati Bengals. Yeah, I love it. Listen, here's the thing. Now, we're talking about how they can maneuver within the draft because my number one nose tackle is Kaden McDonald. My number two is Christian Mill out of Georgia. So, there's nose

tackles that can help you out, but like Le talked about, you might have to get a little bit more creative with that 10th pick. But now, you have prime real estate that you can use that to move down a little bit and perhaps make a deal with the Devil, trade with the Cowboys, get another first round pick. So, I trust John Harbaugh to do the right thing. One thing I know about him during his tenure at Baltimore, they were always able to lock in along the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. So five and 10 could equal six for them on offense and six on defense because I expect them to get two tremendous playmakers with both selections.

Nonetheless, uh a big loss regardless for the Giants and getting losing a player like Dexter Lawrence, but that is a big come up for the Bengals. As we've all mentioned here, this is a unit, a defensive unit that had struggled in 2025 and now get a major upgrade for 2026. Fellas, appreciate you guys stopping by with that insight. Appreciate that. Taking a look at the most losses in NFL history with 34 or more points. The Bengals on this list twice, both coming over the last two years, certainly needing a little help defensively. And hey, they got just what they were asking for.