Inside the Giants' Defensive Tackle Search After Cutdown
Joe Schoen says a defensive tackle signing is coming, but Wednesday's tryout added a center to the practice squad, and the cap numbers explain why nothing bigger is likely.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen said Wednesday the Giants will probably sign another defensive tackle before their Sept. 13 opener against Dallas. That same day, the team held a tryout for three defensive tackles and signed a center to the practice squad instead.
Schoen has stated the need is real. The Giants already lost one trade target. Their cap room limits how big any addition can be.
What Schoen said
Schoen met with reporters Wednesday at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center, four days after the Giants set their initial 53-man roster. Asked about the interior defensive line, he laid out who is already on the roster and said more is coming.
"We signed DJ Reader, Shelby (Harris), we traded for C.J. Okoye, we've got DA (Darius Alexander). Bobby Jamison-Travis had a good camp. We've got a couple of vets on the practice squad, probably going to sign another one next week. So yeah, I feel good where we are right now. And again, we'll continue, that's something we'll continue and see what opportunities are out there. But not just D-tackle, but every position. But again, I like where we are right now."
Schoen said, according to a Giants.com transcript of the press conference.
Schoen framed defensive tackle as one of several positions the team is still addressing this week.
The tryout
The Giants brought in six players for a workout Wednesday, per the NFL transaction wire: defensive tackles Benito Jones, David Blay and Aaron Graves, defensive end Dawuane Smoot, and defensive backs Elijah Cup and Eric Rogers, Giants Wire's Kevin Hickey reported.
Jones is a 28-year-old, 6-foot-1, 335-pound defensive tackle who went undrafted out of Mississippi in 2020, according to Yahoo Sports/Big Blue View's Nick Falato. He has played for Miami and Detroit and was on the Las Vegas Raiders' practice squad this summer before being cut after 15 preseason snaps. Blay and Graves are both undrafted rookies. Smoot, 31, is entering his 10th NFL season, mostly with Jacksonville, and lines up more as an edge rusher who can slide inside than as a true defensive tackle.
The tryout's only outcome so far: the Giants signed center Geno VanDeMark to the practice squad, Giants Wire's Kevin Hickey reported. Schoen confirmed the signing at the podium, calling VanDeMark an offensive lineman. As of Friday, none of the defensive tackles or Smoot had been reported signed.
The room right now
The Giants' defensive line on the initial 53-man roster is D.J. Reader, Shelby Harris, C.J. Okoye, Darius Alexander, Bobby Jamison-Travis and Chauncey Golston, according to the team's official roster announcement. Roy Robertson-Harris is on injured reserve. Josh Tupou is the only interior lineman on the practice squad, per Over The Cap's and Spotrac's team cap pages.
That's down from the 11 defensive linemen the Giants carried into cutdown weekend, which GiantsGator reported on Aug. 27. Leki Fotu, Zaach Pickens, Marlon Davidson and Anquin Barnes Jr. did not make the final roster.
Okoye, acquired from Baltimore for a 2028 seventh-round pick, is the newest piece. Alexander, in his second year, has reportedly taken a step back this summer, Giants Wire's John Fennelly wrote.
What they passed on
The Giants held the No. 5 priority in the post-cutdown waiver order, tied to their 4-13 finish in 2025. They did not use it to claim a defensive tackle when waivers cleared Monday, Yahoo Sports' Ed Valentine reported.
They also lost out on the top defensive tackle available by trade. Chicago Bears defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. drew "heavy" trade interest that included the Giants and the New Orleans Saints, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported, before Atlanta won the deal, sending cornerback Clark Phillips III and a 2027 fifth-round pick to Chicago that weekend. Giants Wire's Dan Benton reported it is unclear whether the Giants' interest in Dexter continued after they added Okoye that same weekend.
The cap reality
The Giants' room to spend is limited, and the two major cap trackers don't agree on by how much. Over The Cap lists the Giants with $10,392,701 in 2026 cap space. Spotrac lists them $1,239,658 over the top-51 cap, 29th in the league. Both sources were checked directly Friday.
Either figure rules out a big-money addition. The Giants are still carrying $13,916,260 in dead money from this spring's trade of Dexter Lawrence to Cincinnati, per Over The Cap. Whatever comes next at defensive tackle will be a low-cost veteran or a cheap trade.
What's next
No player has been named publicly as a target. Schoen's own timeline points to a signing "next week," ahead of the Sept. 13 opener against Dallas.