Twenty-six NFL teams have reportedly shown some level of interest in free agent defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, who missed all of last season with a Jones fracture in his foot.
The New York Giants, of course, have not yet addressed their need for help at defensive tackle in free agency. There is no word on whether or not the Giants are among the 26 teams who have apparently at least checked in on Wilkins. Question is, should they be?
If the answer were based on talent alone, it would be an easy
yes. A former Clemson teammate of Dexter Lawrence, Wilkins was a 2019 first-round pick by the Miami Dolphins. The 6-foot-4, 310-pound 30-year-old has 22.5 sacks in 86 regular season games, and has always been an excellent run defender.
With Wilkins, though, it is not just about talent.
First, there is his foot. Wilkins played just five games in 2024 with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2024 before suffering the injury. The Raiders released him last summer, partially because Wilkins apparently did not want to get another surgery on his foot. The foot still remains an issue.
The other part of the Wilkins’ story is more complicated.
There was reportedly an incident with the Raiders where Wilkins “playfully” kissed a teammate on the head and the teammate took offense to it. Per ESPN, a complaint was filed to the Raiders’ human resources department.
ESPN’s Jordan Ranaan said on a recent podcast that it is that incident, which Ranaan hinted has aspects that have not been reported, that is apparently keeping Wilkins out of the league.
“I mean, whatever happened in that locker room, I don’t know exactly what it was. But on top of the injury part, I think it just sounds like that’s going to be a tough one for him to overcome and for a team to want to be able to bring him in the locker room. Even if it’s Dexter. Lawrence is one of his closest friends. It doesn’t sound like that’s one where it’s going to be easy to bring him into your locker room.”
“Some of the things you hear you’re like, ‘Wow, okay, that would be tough to bring in.’ Those are the kind of things that just kind of go through the roof, right? The tornado starts and the rumors and it just starts… I mean, if I even just said some of the things that I heard it would go viral.”
Where do you stand on whether or not the Giants should be interested in Wilkins?
