Shaq Lawson traded: Texans send former first-round pick to Jets for late-round pick

A new pass rusher is on his way to the New York Jets in 2021. After losing Carl Lawson for the season after rupturing his Achilles in August, the team was in severe need of a replacement for the production they had hoped to obtain when they signed him in free agency this winter. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, they’re now betting on Shaq Lawson, who they supposedly acquired from the Houston Texans in a trade.

The Texans will receive a sixth-round pick in exchange for Lawson, and the former 19th-overall pick will return to the AFC East in 2021 to face his previous team, the Buffalo Bills, at least twice. Lawson signed with the Bills in 2016 and played out his rookie contract before signing with the Miami Dolphins in free agency in 2020 after the Bills declined to exercise his fifth-year option. Lawson signed a three-year deal in Miami, but he didn’t see the end of it because he was moved to the Houston Texans this spring.

He hasn’t played a single regular-season snap for the Texans since he will be moving to a new NFL home for the second time in less than five months.

Lawson recorded four sacks for the Dolphins in 2020, only one year after setting a career high with 6.5 sacks for the Buffalo Bills. The Jets and their new head coach, former defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, are hoping that gaining this Lawson would help ease the pain of losing the other one.