Through the first six weeks of the 2026 season, the New York Giants’ run defense has once again been a glaring problem that has hurt the team’s overall performance.
Following their crushing 34-27 Week 6 loss to the New Orleans Saints, in which they allowed 175 rushing yards- the third time this season they have given up at least 163, questions have been rising as to whether the organization did enough to fix the defense’s biggest weakness, which ranked last in yards per carry last season.
Those concerns intensified in the offseason, when the Giants sent shockwaves by trading two-time All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals.
The move shipped off a disgruntled star but left a gaping hole at one of the game’s most important positions.
With the money freed up by the deal, they signed two proven veterans, D.J. Reader and Shelby Harris, to man the middle of the defensive front.
Both have been promising, but it has been painfully obvious that the depth behind them isn’t holding up for Dennard Wilson’s group whenever either exits the field.
As New York heads into Week 7 with the league’s second-worst run defense, it has to find a way to strengthen its run response and give the pass rush and secondary more chances to dominate, as they did in the impressive wins in Weeks 3 and 4.
For now, the Giants can at least hang their hats on a workable foundation in the trenches with Reader, who is outpacing his talented predecessor.
D.J. Reader Is Filling the Nose Tackle Role Nicely
Even with Lawrence’s decline in production amid injuries, which sparked a contract stalemate and his eventual trade, the Giants knew they wouldn’t easily replace a player of his caliber.
Not long ago, Lawrence was in the discussion as the NFL’s best defensive tackle, coming off a career-high 2024 season in which he had 9.5 sacks, 21 tackles (25 stops) and the second-highest run-defense grade among players at his position.
An untimely elbow injury cost Lawrence the final five games of that season. When he returned in 2025, both his production and his overall effort came into question as he finished the year with his lowest grade in five seasons and no sacks despite playing a full 17-game slate.
Even so, the move drew criticism of the Giants for shipping off arguably the best player on their roster, who had grown frustrated with the constant losing that engulfed the franchise for most of his tenure and led to the hiring of John Harbaugh.
In addition, some questioned the transition to Reader, the 32-year-old veteran whose recent stats suggested he might be past his prime and thus no more than a temporary rental for Big Blue.
Through six games with the Giants, Reader has been the lone bright spot on the team’s defensive front and, compared with Lawrence in Cincinnati, has proven himself the more productive player.
Reader got off to a slow start as a gap stuffer, posting no more than three tackles along the line of scrimmage in his first five games. His peak outing came against the Saints’ 30th-ranked rushing attack, when he logged a season-high seven run stops with no missed tackles.
With those numbers, Reader leads the Giants’ defense with an 85.3 run-defense grade. Among interior defenders with at least 100 run-defense snaps, he ranks in the top three in tackles (16), stops (14) and average depth of tackle (2.3 yards), while committing no penalties.
Lawrence has had a more impressive start with the Bengals as a pass rusher, generating 19 pressures, including three sacks and three hits. Against the run, he trails Reader with only 10 tackles, 12 stops and a missed-tackle rate of 14.3%.
It’s worth noting that Reader has been a two-down player throughout his career, compared with Lawrence, whose size made him an every-down weapon.
Reader has also commanded significant attention, holding the league’s highest double-team rate (71.7%) in 2025, which boosted his value on the free-agent market, where New York won the bid for his services.
It is still premature to crown the Giants the winners of the blockbuster deal that landed them the No. 10 pick used to select Francis Mauigoa and fortify their starting offensive line. The early returns suggest they have at least found the right replacement for Lawrence to build the rest of their defensive front around.
Building out that front will be one of the team’s looming offseason priorities, as some of its younger pieces need to develop into larger roles. Harbaugh also wants physicality at the line of scrimmage to be one of his team’s tenets.
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