Former NY Jets free agent bust given one final shot at NFL redemption

The NY Jets believed they were landing one of the best pass rushers in the NFL when they signed former Cincinnati Bengals standout Carl Lawson to a three-year, $45 million contract prior to the 2021 season.

While Lawson's sack numbers were never anything special in Cincinnati, the former Auburn star was among the NFL's leaders in pressures and was genuinely one of the most impactful pass rushers in football.

Unfortunately, Lawson's Jets tenure was derailed by injuries before he ever even stepped foot on the field for a regular season game. He'd go on to play just 23 games for the Jets over three years before departing this past offseason to little fanfare.

Now, Lawson is being given one final chance to salvage his NFL career. The seven-year NFL veteran reportedly signed a deal with the Dallas Cowboys Thursday morning, giving him a chance to stick around on one of the NFC's best teams.

Former NY Jets defensive end Carl Lawson could salvage his career in Dallas

Lawson was famously the Jets' most dominant player in his first summer with the team and looked primed for a monster season under Robert Saleh before he tragically tore his Achilles during a joint practice with the Green Bay Packers.

The Jets would never see a fully healthy Lawson in green and white again, and that injury proved to be the downfall of his entire career. Lawson returned in 2022, and while he finished with a career-best seven sacks, he clearly wasn't the same player he was prior to his injury.

The Jets could have moved on from Lawson after that season with no dead-cap penalty. Instead, the team decided to re-work his contract with the hope that he could finally fulfill his potential now that he was another year removed from his torn Achilles.

Unfortunately, the injury bug struck again as Lawson suffered a back injury in the spring that sidelined him for essentially all of training camp and the preseason. He returned prior to Week 1 but was very obviously still battling through the injury.

Lawson was rendered a "healthy" scratch for all but six games in 2023. He looked like a shell of his former self when on the field. The explosiveness was gone. Lawson recorded just two pressures and zero sacks on 59 pass-rush snaps for an abysmal pressure rate of three percent.

The Cowboys are hoping that a full offseason to recover from his latest ailment can do wonders for the former Bengals standout, but that might be wishful thinking. Still, Dallas is desperate for pass-rush help.

The team lost Sam Williams to a torn ACL early in training camp and has been scouring the free-agent market for answers. The Cowboys brought Lawson in for a visit earlier in the summer but ultimately decided to sign veterans Al-Quadin Muhammad and Shaka Toney instead.

But after Toney was waived/injured following a groin injury, Lawson was brought back in. He'll have a chance to compete for a roster spot in a Cowboys pass-rush corps that could use some extra depth.

It's very possible that this could be Lawson's final opportunity to salvage his NFL career. Here's to hoping he stays healthy and makes the most of it.

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