The Jets added some defensive line help on Sunday.
Gang Green acquired Shaq Lawson from the Texans in exchange for their 2022 sixth-round pick in the deal, according to ESPN.
This will be Lawson’s third AFC East team. He was drafted out of Clemson in the first round of the 2016 draft by the Buffalo Bills and finished with 16.5 sacks in four seasons there.
His best season was in 2019 when he had 6.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss, which scored Lawson a three-year, $30M deal with the Dolphins in 2020.
Last season, he registered four sacks, then was traded earlier this offseason to the Texans and his contract was restructured. After a disappointing preseason in Houston, he was on the verge of getting cut.
Lawson trailed Charles Omenihu, Whitney Mercilus, Jordan Jenkins and Jacob Martin on the Texans’ depth chart, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Lawson will receive a reported $990K salary from the Jets with an additional $550K in incentives ($1.49M total), per overthecap.com. The Texans had also paid Lawson over $7M as an incentive to restructure the contract initially set with the Dolphins.
Adding Lawson won’t necessarily move the needle for the Jets.
But at the least, adding Lawson is a low enough risk for the team, which desperately needed to add depth to an injury-bitten defensive line.
Through training camp the Jets lost Carl Lawson (Achilles) and Vinny Curry (blood clot) for the season, and Ronald Blair (hamstring) does not yet have a time for return.
