Giants first-rounders Dexter Lawrence, DeAndre Baker sign rookie contracts
Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence participates in a drill during Organized Team Activities at Quest Diagnostics Training Center on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
DT Dexter Lawrence and CB DeAndre Baker signed their rookie contracts with the Giants on Friday, leaving QB Daniel Jones, the sixth overall selection, as the only first-round pick by the team who has yet to reach a final agreement.
LB Oshane Ximines, a third-round selection, is the only other Giants draft pick still unsigned. In total, eight of the 10 players selected by the Giants in April have signed their initial contracts with the team.
Eight of the 32 first-round picks from the 2019 draft are unsigned, including five of the first six (which includes Jones).
While Giants veterans were dismissed from the offseason training program on Thursday, the rookies will remain with the team through Wednesday. That would seem to be a soft deadline to get a deal done with the player who the Giants believe is their quarterback of the future. Jones said he intends to spend time at the beach with his family and training at Duke during the coming month and a half of down time and likely will not return to New Jersey until rookies and selected veterans are scheduled to arrive for training camp on July 22. There is no indication that Jones will hold out from training camp over an unsigned contract, but it would be better to have an agreement in place prior to that reporting date in late July.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
