Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers says he’s looking forward to a different approach to practices with new head coach Jesse Minter, who won’t break the team down the way Flowers says John Harbaugh did.
Flowers said on the 4th and South podcast that Harbaugh put the Ravens through contact practices as often as NFL rules allow, and that by the end of the season players were exhausted from the wear and tear on their bodies.
“Full pads all the time,” Flowers said. “However many practices in pads you can get, every single one. We’re doing one-on-ones in Week 17. Week 17, we’re doing one-on-ones, everybody out there, we’re tired, we’re still going.”
Asked how the players manage that workload, Flowers answered, “We don’t.”
“That’s why we had a lot of injuries,” Flowers continued. “Because of how we practiced, how we went. The load was heavy.”
Flowers said that in his first conversation with Minter, who was a Ravens assistant before Flowers was drafted, he asked for reassurance that the team would be more cognizant of taking care of players’ bodies.
“Yeah, I talked to the new coach,” Flowers said. “He worked with Harbaugh in 2017, so he knows how it was, how we worked with Harbaugh. So he says, ‘You’re going to get your work, but it’s going to be a little easier on your body. You’re going to be fresher for the game.’ That was the first talk I had with him: How’s practice going to look?”
Ravens players will be glad to hear Flowers’ comments. Giants players may be in for a rude awakening.
Giants Clips
Not only have talks broken off between the Giants and Dexter Lawrence’s representation, but the defensive tackle wants out of New York.
Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reports that Lawrence’s trade request is not about money. Lawrence wants to move on from the Giants as the dispute has escalated beyond the contract.
Lawrence, who has two years remaining on his deal, has sought a raise over his annual average of $22.5 million since the 2025 offseason. The Giants added $3 million in incentives to Lawrence’s deal a year ago, and he earned $18 million.
General Manager Joe Schoen addressed Lawrence’s situation during his pre-draft news conference earlier this week. Schoen characterized it as “good conversations” between the sides with hopes of working something out so that Lawrence will remain with the team.
Talks, though, have hit an impasse, and the Giants now are concentrating on the draft.
Lawrence is skipping the team’s offseason work.
Lawrence, 28, has made three Pro Bowls and totaled 30.5 sacks, five forced fumbles and an interception in his career since the Giants made him the 17th overall pick in 2019.
The NFL has announced the names of the current and former players that will take part in next week’s draft by announcing second-round picks.
The list includes players associated with all 32 teams, including Cardinals running back James Conner. Conner has strong ties to the Pittsburgh area after playing for the Steelers and attending Pitt, which likely made him an easy choice as the Cardinals’ representative.
Former Bears tackle Jimbo Covert, former Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett, former Chiefs defensive lineman Bill Maas, current Vikings tackle Brian O’Neill, former Jets running back Curtis Martin, and former 49ers punter Andy Lee are other Pitt alums who are set to take part.
The hometown team will be represented by four players. Former Steelers Jerome Bettis and John Stallworth will be joined by Joey Porter Sr. and Jr. next Friday.
The other players taking part and their team affiliations appear below:
Falcons: Michael Turner
Ravens: Mark Ingram
Bills: Shane Conlan
Panthers: Jake Delhomme
Bengals: Ken Anderson
Browns: Phil Dawson
Cowboys: Drew Pearson
Broncos: T.J. Ward
Lions: Calvin Johnson
Packers: John Kuhn
Texans: Billy Miller
Colts: Pat McAfee
Jaguars: Paul Posluszny
Raiders: Matt Millen
Chargers: Shawne Merriman
Rams: Tavon Austin
Dolphins: Dwight Stephenson
Patriots: Deion Branch
Saints: Marques Colston
Giants: Osi Umenyiora
Eagles: Brian Westbrook
Seahawks: Cliff Avril
Buccaneers: Ronde Barber
Titans: Jeffery Simmons
Commanders: Mark Rypien
Giants General Manager Joe Schoen is open to trading down from the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft. But not until he finds out if the player he wants will be available.
Schoen didn’t say which player he’s hoping to take at No. 5, but he did say that when teams call to talk about trading up, he makes clear to them that he’ll only do that when he’s on the clock next week, if his preferred player is no longer on the board.
“We’ve gotten a couple calls of teams sniffing around about potentially coming up, and we’ll just have to wait and see who’s there when we pick,” Schoen said. “I don’t really foresee us moving back before next Thursday night.”
Most projections have the Top 5 picks this year being Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey, Ohio State edge rusher Arvell Reese, Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love and Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles. At least one of those players is guaranteed to be there for Schoen. Or for some team looking to trade up.
Edge rusher Brian Burns was traded to the Giants in 2024 after failing to come to agreement with the Panthers on a long-term contract, so he’s familiar with the position that Dexter Lawrence finds himself in right now.
Lawrence requested a trade last week amid talks with the Giants about a new deal. General Manager Joe Schoen said at a press conference on Tuesday that those talks with the defensive tackle were progressing well, but that claim was followed by multiple reports that the conversations have hit an impasse and broken off.
Burns would like to see things pick back up because he has no interest in taking the field without Lawrence joining him on the Giants defense.
“Speaking for me, the Giants ain’t the Giants without No. 97 in the middle,” Burns said, via Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. “So we are going to figure that out to keep him here regardless, I hope. That’s my boy. And I don’t want to play this season or any other season without him.”
Lawrence’s ability on the field is one part of the puzzle and Burns noted that he’s also “a huge locker-room presence” that the team has been missing in the first couple of weeks of their offseason work. Few would argue with Burns about Lawrence’s importance to the Giants, but it remains to be seen if the team’s agreement is strong enough to boost his contract with two years left on their current agreement.
Last night’s report from NFL Network that the Giants and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence have reached an “impasse” in their talks sparked a spirited discussion on PFT Live regarding whether it’s truly an “impasse” (and what “impasse” means).
It reportedly is.
Via Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News, talks between the Giants and Lawrence have “broken off.”
We’ve confirmed the report (not that it needed confirmation). Talks have ended.
So what’s next? There are two needles to thread, as a practical matter, for a trade to happen. First, a new team must make the Giants a trade offer they won’t refuse. Second, a new team must make Lawrence a contract offer he will accept.
Ideally, the Giants would make the deal when the highest 2026 draft pick they’d be acquiring is on the clock. That allows them to get the guy they want without worrying about being leapfrogged by another team.
To make that happen, the new team would need to have an understanding in place with Lawrence’s camp as to what it takes to make Lawrence happy.
For now, the Giants have been handling the trade talks. If/when the Giants give Lawrence permission to do it himself (that hasn’t happened yet, but it could), it becomes easier to get both the Giants and Lawrence satisfied before a deal is done.
Discretion will become critical, if the Giants hope to inherit the new team’s highest 2026 pick when it’s on the clock. It’s something that could become very quiet until it becomes very loud, during the window that the pick is on the clock.
Through it all, it’s also possible that the talks could resume. For that to happen, however, someone will need to blink as it relates to their positions at the time the talks broke.
The Giants don’t know exactly who will be available when they make their first selection in the draft next week, but they can be pretty sure where multiple prospects played their college ball.
Edge rusher Arvell Reese, linebacker Sonny Styles and safety Caleb Downs were all teammates at Ohio State before moving on to become three of the top players in this year’s draft class. Reese is usually projected to be selected before the Giants are on the clock at No. 5, but Styles and Downs are frequently mentioned as options for the NFC East club.
There have been discussions about whether there’s enough positional value for either player to be picked that early, but the Giants have not seemed opposed and General Manager Joe Schoen certainly did not take anything off the table during a Tuesday press conference.
“That wouldn’t be out of the question,” Schoen said, via the team’s website. “Those are really good football players. Those are the conversations we’re having right now. Hey, we like all these guys, but you’ve got to pick one and a couple of them are going to be there. We’re working on stacking that right now. But you speak of Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs, talk about talented defense; we’ve watched a lot of Ohio State defensive film the last couple of months. A lot of good football players from top to bottom on that defense. Those are two of the key players on that defense that we looked at. Certainly guys that we’ve talked a lot about and think very highly of.”
Schoen also discussed running back Jeremiyah Love on Tuesday and there have been similar conversations about the wisdom of taking a running back at that point. That could leave Schoen and the Giants with a decision to make about which way they want to buck trends when it’s their turn in the first round.
On Tuesday, Giants G.M. Joe Schoen said the team has had “good conversations” with the representatives for defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence. They apparently haven’t been good enough.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the two sides have reached “an impasse.”
The Giants have talked to other teams about a possible trade. Per Rapoport, those talks will continue. He adds that the situation “should come to a head” before the draft, which starts in only nine days.
Lawrence, who is due to make $20 million in 2026, wants a raise. Last month’s new contract between the Eagles and defensive tackle Jordan Davis, which bumped his new-money APY to $26 million, was a major factor for Lawrence.
Lawrence is signed through 2027. If a trade happens, his next team will need to have a deal in place with Lawrence. Otherwise, that team will simply be inheriting the situation the Giants currently are experiencing.
Giants General Manager Joe Schoen will be on the clock with the fifth overall pick of the draft in a little more than a week and his plans for that selection were a chief topic of a Tuesday press conference from the team’s facility.
The Giants won’t know exactly who will be available for some time, but former Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love is one of the players that Schoen could be considering when the team is up early in the first round. Schoen said that “we like our running back room” on Tuesday, but didn’t rule out anything involving a player that he thinks brings a lot to the table.
“He’s an offensive weapon,” Schoen said. “He’s not just a running back. He can play on third down, you can split him out. He can catch the ball. Certainly an offensive weapon.”
The prospect of using an early pick on a running back led to a question about whether that would be saying it was a mistake to let Saquon Barkley leave the team as a free agent a couple of years ago. Schoen noted that the Giants now have a quarterback on a rookie deal and a revamped offensive line along with numerous other roster changes that make for a different picture this offseason.
Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence wants out. The Giants want to keep him.
The sides are talking, General Manager Joe Schoen said to open pre-draft news conference before taking questions.
“We’ve had good conversations with his representatives throughout the last five or six days,” Schoen said, via video from SNY Giants. “Coach [John Harbaugh], [senior vice president of football ops] Dawn [Aponte], myself, we’ve all been in communication, trying to find some resolution.
“I’ll echo what coach said last week: We’d like Dexter to be here. At some point, we’ll come to a resolution here, whatever that may be. We’ll see. But conversations have been really good. They’ve been productive, and again we’ll see what happens down the road. I’m not going to say anymore about it after that, but that’s the update, and that’s really all there is.”
At the same time, Schoen said he will listen to trade offers.
“I’m always going to pick up the phone if a team calls,” Schoen said. “Maybe not to the [extent] that coach said last week that everybody is tradeable. That is my job as General Manager if teams call. It’s a case-by-case basis and what the compensation may be. That’s my job to take into consideration what that looks like, what the compensation looks like, who the player is, how that affects the roster and then try to make the best decision off of that.”
Lawrence is not participating in the offseason program after two offseasons of failing to come to an agreement on a raise for him. He has two years remaining on his deal, scheduled to make $20 million in 2026.
Schoen said the sides do not have a deadline for a resolution.
“I’m not going to get into it if there’s a deadline or not,” Schoen said. “He’s under contract for two more years. We’re not going to put any deadlines on anything. Again, right now productive conversations and we’ll see where it goes.”
Lawrence, 28, has made three Pro Bowls and has totaled 30.5 sacks, five forced fumbles and an interception in his career since the Giants made him the 17th overall pick in 2019.
