The New York Giants have struggled to defend the run for years now. Before Shane Bowen was fired as defensive coordinator late in the season, the 2025 Giants were the worst run-defending team in the NFL.
The need for solid run defense is a core belief for new head coach John Harbaugh.
“It’s a must thing. I can tell you that,” Harbaugh said at the NFL Combine. “There’s a lot to it. There’s three levels and layers to your defense. And all three layers and levels have got to be committed to and incorporated
in stopping the run, no doubt.
I mean, every single one of the 11 guys has got to be committed to stopping the run. You can’t let people run all over you. There’s no doubt about it. It’s been important. It’s been important. It’s been important in football since football started.“
The Giants will try to do so with a completely rebuilt defensive line. Dexter Lawrence was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals. Rakeem Nunez-Roches and D.J. Davidson were not re-signed. Elijah Chatman was waived. Roy Robertson-Harris tore an Achilles tendon this spring.
Second-year player Darius Alexander and veteran Chauncey Golston are the only players left from 2025 who might be part of the defensive line group. Did the Giants do enough to supplement the line? We will begin to find out in training camp.
Below is a look at the new Giants competing to earn spots along the defensive line.
Leki Fotu
How acquired: Signed as a free agent (April 29)
Experience: 6
Age: 28
Draft status: Fourth-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals in 2020
Teams played for: Cardinals, New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders, Houston Texans
Fotu played four seasons for the Cardinals. He spent the last two years bouncing from the Jets to the Raiders to the Texans. Fotu, 6-foot-5, 317 pounds, has played in 66 regular-season games, with 26 starts.
Fotu has never played more than 45% of his team’s defensive snaps. In 2024, he played just 46 defensive snaps for the Jets. Last season, he played 193 snaps for the Raiders and Texans.
When he signed with the Texans late last season, this is what Fotu told reporter Aaron Wilson:
“With my game, with my size and my abilities, I think it speaks for itself. I try to provide that anchor in the run game, obviously, and also contribute my part in the passing game when those moments come. Just doing everything that I can to the best of my abilities.”
In body type, Fotu might be the closest thing the Giants have to a replacement for the 6-5, 300-pound Roy Robertson-Harris, who tore an Achilles tendon this spring.
In his six seasons, Fotu has never posted a Pro Football Focus grade better than 46.1. In only two of those seasons has Fotu’s run defense grade even gotten into the 40s. That’s not good.
** Graphic via The Daily Norseman
Fotu has generally had grades in the low 70s using the Pro Football Sports Network Impact Score, which grades on a 50-100 scale. That scale would put him slightly below the midpoint.
Fotu is not guaranteed a roster spot. If he makes the team, he would seem likely to be a rotational tackle playing a handful of snaps per game. More than that could be problematic, based on his history.
Shelby Harris
How acquired: Signed as a free agent on April 29.
Experience: 11
Age: 35
Draft status: Seventh-round pick by the Oakland Raiders in 2014
Teams played for: Raiders, Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns
Harris is a stopgap solution for the Giants. He is 35 and signed a one-year deal. How much of a solution the 6-2, 288-pound Harris will be depends upon how much he has left.
Harris played in all 17 games for the Cleveland Browns last season, impressive in his 11th season, with five starts. He played 509 snaps, marking the fourth time in five seasons that Harris had played more than 500 snaps. Despite being only 288 pounds, Harris has been an above-average run defender throughout his career. Defending the run, of course, is what the Giants signed him to do.
Pro Football Focus ranked Harris No. 22 among 40 qualifying defensive tackles in run defense last season. Pro Football Sports Network ranked him No. 25.
Zacch Pickens
How acquired: Claimed off waivers from the Kansas City Chiefs on May 5
Experience: 3
Age: 25
Draft status: Third-round pick by Chicago Bears in 2023
Teams played for: Bears, Chiefs
Pickens has not lived up to his status as the 64th player selected in the 2023 NFL Draft. He has played in just 29 games with three starts. He played only 59 defensive snaps in three games for the Chiefs last season.
In his prospect profile, BBV’s Chris Pflum said of Pickens that he “projects as an important rotational defensive tackle with starting potential in the right situation.”
In reading through a variety of posts after Pickens was let go by both the Bears and Chiefs, no one in either city seemed to consider those teams moving on from Pickens to be a great loss.
Can he find his footing and be productive with the Giants?
C.J. Ravenell
How acquired: Claimed on waivers from the Tennessee Titans on July 7
Experience: 1
Age: 26
Draft status: Undrafted
Teams played for: Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans
Wondering why the Giants claimed Ravenell on waivers despite all of the other moves they made this offseason at defensive tackle? Look no further than the two teams he was with last season. Ravenell spent the 2024 season on Baltimore’s practice squad. The Ravens signed Ravenell to a futures contract for 2025, and he was there through the preseason. When the Baltimore Ravens cut him, the Tennessee Titans, with Dennard Wilson as their defensive coordinator, claimed him. So, the coaching staff connection to Ravenell is apparent.
The 6-5, 300-pound Ravenell was active for 14 games last season, but played only 97 defensive snaps and 20 special teams snaps.
It is hard to project where Ravenell might fit, especially since he was claimed after spring practices. Wilson and head coach John Harbaugh are intrigued enough by him, though, to give Ravenell an opportunity.
D.J. Reader
How acquired: Signed as a free agent on May 5
Experience: 10
Age: 32
Draft status: Fifth-round pick by the Houston Texans in 2015
Teams played for: Texans, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions
The 6-3, 330-pound 32-year-old was the big fish among all of the defensive linemen the Giants acquired this offseason. After losing Lawrence, Reader was the most accomplished nose tackle left on the free-agent market and a player the Giants needed to reel in. They did so with a two-year, $12.5 million contract that included $5.25 million guaranteed.
Reader will not generate the pass pressure that Lawrence did. Not close.
Reader has been one of the best run-defending nose tackles throughout his career. Reader is used to handling double teams. In 2025, he was the most-often double-team defensive tackle in the NFL at 71.7%, more than Dexter Lawrence (71.3%).
“I think it’s something that kind of comes with the territory, the position. You kind of just got to know it is what it is. It’s smart,” Reader said. “I’m the guy closest to the center and the guard. So I’d probably double-team me, too … I think I’ve always done a good job of just kind of taking that in stride, knowing that it’s important for those guys who really play pass-rush and they do this on the daily. These are the guys that are going out there and getting pressure up the middle so the quarterback can really roll to them.
“I’ve always had good edges. I think my edges usually have good seasons when they play with me.”
Reader’s 2024 and 2025 seasons with the Lions were not up to the standards he set earlier in his career. The Giants need to hope that downward slide does not continue. They don’t have anyone else with the proven ability to handle the snaps Reader has played throughout his career.
Sam Roberts
How acquired: Signed as free agent on March 23.
Experience: 4
Age: 28
Draft status: Sixth round pick by New England Patriots in 2022
Teams played for: Patriots, Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons
As the Giants enter training camp, Roberts is a mystery. He was never seen during spring workouts or mandatory minicamp as he recovered from an undisclosed surgery. Roberts finished last on injured reserve for the Atlanta Falcons with an ankle injury.
A former Division II player at Northwest Missouri State, where ex-Giant Dave Tollefson played his college ball, Roberts was the first veteran defensive lineman signed by the Giants this offseason.
He played in just five games for Atlanta last season, but it was the best stretch of the 6-5, 300-pounder’s career. He had 18 tackles after accumulating just eight over his first three seasons, and added the only sack of his NFL career. He played a variety of spots across the line for the Falcons last season.
Roberts’ 83.0 Pro Football Focus grade was by far the best of his career. He played 102 defensive snaps, a career-high.
The Giants are clearly hoping that 2025 showed that Roberts, with only 20 games of experience in four seasons, is an ascending player who can handle a bigger role than he has had in the past.
Josh Tupou
How acquired: Signed as free agent on May 27
Experience: 8
Age: 32
Draft status: Undrafted
Teams played for: Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore Ravens
Tupou is a massive 6-3, 350-pound nose tackle. He spent six seasons with the Bengals, sitting out the 2020 COVID season. From 2019-2023 he was a regular part of the Bengals’ defensive line rotation, playing from 287 snaps to 467 snaps.
Tupou spent the last two seasons on the Ravens’ practice squad, appearing in just six games. Tupou has 23 starts in 71 career regular-season games.
Tupou could compete for a role as the backup nose tackle behind Reader. He could end up as a rotational piece for the Giants if they deem sixth-round pick Bobby-Jamison Travis not ready for regular NFL snaps.
Bobby Jamison-Travis
How acquired: Drafted in Round 6, 186th overall
Experience: Rookie
Age: 25
The Giants waited until Round 6 to address their need at defensive tackle by selecting Jamison-Travis. The 6-3, 328-pounder could find a role as the backup nose tackle. Or, he could end up on the practice squad.
Assistant GM Brandon Brown said this when asked why the Giants drafted Jamison-Travis:
“What you have seen in his game is strength in knock-back. In the trenches his hands don’t always work in unison, but that’s coaching,” Brown said. “When you look at BJ watching his tape, when you look at our area scouts, whether it’s (college area scout) Scott Hamel, (national scout) Marcus Cooper, going down and saying, hey, this guy is a little bit off the radar, but he has power in his hands, and he can eat double-teams.
“He doesn’t get moved by side anchor, and he can create knock-back in a way that when we get into our meetings with Harbs and Joe, hey, we want to be thick in the middle. We want to be able to re-establish the line of scrimmage. Create knock-back at the nose. He’s not a pass rusher, but what he can do is eat two blocks, and he can be firm.”
Here is more about Jamison-Travis:
- Rookie DT Bobby Jamison-Travis can find a role with the NY Giants
- Who is DT Bobby Jamison-Travis, and why did the NY Giants draft him?
- NY Giants NFL Draft 2026: New York goes big in Round 6 — Instant analysis
NOTE: I did not include information on undrafted free agent defensive tackles Anquin Barnes and Ben Barten.
