I think,you made the mistake to leave them in the pot outside over the winter.
If that is the case,your trees have frost Damage.
The roots get Damage much easyer,and faster when left in pot outside.
If you left them out the same way,the winters before,your trees are hardy ,and made it,then.
But This winter frost was lasting for days,so is not their Fault they are like you say they are.
For Now all you can do is hope that they will recover.
In the future eather plant them inground or take them in,the Garage.
H

As Herman said you probably have extensive root damage, as well as top damage. If there are roots alive they are trying to push out growth on more top than they can handle. Not only would I cut off the hard tips, I'd prune most of the top off.

Yes I agree wiTh Fignut,and also I sugest,to save the cuttings,and try to root them.
If they are soft they might have retarded live buds.
In that case they will root and grow.
I say again,your trees are hardy,if they made it 2 winter outside in pot.
They deserve to be saved and grown again,by any mean you can.
H2

I also have two full grown fig trees which have not leafed out. Both trees have been outside for several years, are 10+ feet tall and have had thousand of figs on them for the last three years. This year, no leaves! The tips where the leaf buds are, appear blackend and I can snap off, however, the branches feel green and alive. Leafing has occured at the base of both trees. Should I cut them all the way back? Or will they miss a season and come out later in the summer or next spring? I don't want to loose them. Are they sick? Help!

Help! My fig trees never grow more than a few inches high. Yes just a few inches. A friend of mine planted a fig tree for me that was about two feet high. He chose the spot and planted it for me. He himself had 8 fig trees and had been growing them for 20+ years. The first year we had cicadas that came up from the ground and covered the tree the leaves started to fall off and it didn't grow much after that. I still "winterized it" then in the spring it had leaves , I cut off all the deadwood,it was still alive but it never grows more than 8-10 inches high. I give it compost it is in a well drain sunny location. What to do? I'm told the fig trees are one of the easiest trees to grow but I have never had any luck with them. Not even the ones I've put in the pot. I live in central NJ.

So your tree is in ground? I had one like that and I put it in a container, soaked it with water and then diluted miracle grow. It took off!

Figs do not like freezes and in NJ most people bring them into shelter during winter. I would think a fig tree would find it very hard to be killed by frost annually and keep coming back.

What does your friend say?

My friend is baffled he has never had this issue before. He feels bad and offered to give/plant another one for me but I think the same will happen again so I don't want him to go through the trouble. I'm going to try digging it up and putting in a planter and see how that works.