NY Jets trade for DE Shaq Lawson, bolster their pass rush

The NY Jets have made a sizable addition ahead of the start of the 2021 season reportedly trading for Houston Texans pass-rusher Shaq Lawson.

As first reported by NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Jets are sending a 2022 sixth-round pick to the Texans in exchange for the former first-round pick.

That sixth-round draft selection is the pick the team acquired in the trade that sent Jordan Willis to the San Francisco 49ers in October of last year.

Essentially, the Jets traded away a 2021 seventh-round pick and Jordan Willis for Shaq Lawson. No matter how you look at it, that's incredible value.

Shaq Lawson should provide a huge boost to the NY Jets pass rush

The 19th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, Lawson spent the first four years of his career with the Buffalo Bills before signing a three-year, $30 million contract with the Miami Dolphins ahead of the 2020 season.

Lawson would go on to start seven of 14 games playing an important role in Miami's defense. The Dolphins would send him to Houston in the offseason in a deal that returned them linebacker Bernardrick McKinney.

But before Lawson could ever suit up for a regular-season game with the Texans, he's now been traded to the Jets.

The Jets were desperate for pass-rush help following the loss of Carl Lawson for the season with a torn Achilles. The addition of Shaq Lawson will help mitigate that loss.

The 27-year-old has recorded 20.5 sacks over his five-year career and finished last season with a 70.9 Pro Football Focus grade that ranked 29th out of all edge defenders.

He's a more-than-capable run defender who has posted solid pass-rush numbers in recent years as well. Lawson has finished with a pass-rush win rate of over 15 percent in each of the last two seasons ranking him above the 70th percentile among qualified edge rushers.

Lawson is under contract through the 2022 season meaning that, unless the Jets exercise the out in his contract that carries a $5 million dead cap charge, he should be with the team next season as well.

The Jets may have lost their star pass rusher for the season, but they got the next-best Lawson to replace him.