The Jets have acquired Texans DE Shaq Lawson in exchange for a 2022 sixth-round pick they originally obtained from the 49ers in exchange for DL Jordan Willis last October. The team has also released S Bennett Jackson.
Lawson (6-3, 267) signed with the Texans in the offseason after spending the 2020 season with the Dolphins. He had 4 sacks and 18 QB hits last season in addition to 32 tackles, 1 forced fumble and 1 pass defense. The No. 19 overall pick by the Bills in 2016 out of Clemson, Lawson totaled 16.5 sacks in four seasons in Buffalo, including a career-high 6.5 sacks in 2019. He has 140 career tackles, 29 tackles for loss, 20.5 sacks, 58 QB hits, 11 pass defenses and 6 forced fumbles in 64 games (24 starts).
Lawson overlapped with Jets defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton in Buffalo in 2017-19 when Whitecotton was as the Bills' assistant defensive line coach (2018-19) and the administrative assistant to head coach Sean McDermott (2017).
Jackson (6-0, 192) was released by the Green & White Aug. 17 and re-signed Aug. 20 after placing S Zane Lewis on injured reserve. A sixth-round pick of the Giants in 2014, he appeared in four games for the Jets in the 2020 season and took 48 special teams snaps before he was placed on injured reserve because of a hamstring injury. He's spent the last two seasons on and off the team's active roster and first joined the club as a waiver claim in September 2019.
