Should NY Giants Pursue DT Christian Wilkins?

The biggest point of interest between Wilkins and the Giants seems to stem from his connection to All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II, who played together at Clemson for three seasons from 2016-2018 and won two national titles. 

A reunion would hand the Giants a fifth proven pass rusher to further beef up their depth at the defensive tackle position and two dynamic pieces at starting spots.

Even on an episode of the offseason version of Hard Knocks that aired during the 2024 offseason, the Giants brass was seen and heard discussing the possibility of pursuing Wilkins as a free agent due to that bond with his former college teammate, and not long before he signed with Las Vegas to a four-year, $110 million with $84.5 million guaranteed.

But does it make sense for the Giants organization to make a foray into the Wilkins bidding that's soon to open up? Outside of the numbers on his resume, the answer is largely a resounding no.

Through the first six years of his pro career, Wilkins has been a pretty solid player at creating pressures in the interior, collecting 372 total tackles to go along with 22.5 sacks, 19 pass deflections and nine total forced turnovers. 

His best graded season came in 2022 when he earned a career-high 82.2 with the Dolphins and followed that up with 61 pressures and 34 stops in 2023.

While those stats would place him in the top 25 players at his position, no other factors really line up in favor of a partnership in the Big Apple. 

The Giants added a few pieces to their interior defensive line to accompany Lawrence this season, notably rookie and third-round pick Darius Alexander who the team looks forward to playing alongside Lawrence given his size and strength as a run stopper.

The Giants also will have Carter taking up a nice chunk of snaps on the interior as they seek to deploy pressure packages where all four of their main pieces can be on the field at the same time and opening up one-on-one matchups for each of them to thrive in the sacks department. 

It would be hard to then fit another veteran like Wilkins into that complicated puzzle, and he likely isn't going to want to fall into a reserve role a pair of first-year players.

The Giants' current financial situation doesn't add up either. According to Over the Cap, New York holds just $3.822 million in effective cap space which is the third lowest in the league, only greater than the Dolphins and Buffalo Bills. 

That simply isn't much to sign a veteran of Wilkins's ilk, even at a one-year agreement unless some contract restructures come into play to assist the cap space available to make a deal.

A hypothetical addition of Wilkins to the Giants' defensive front is something that will continue to be discussed, but even with the team's desire to thrive off the strength of their pass rush, it's more like a longshot than a move we'll see the franchise move mountains to try to make.

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