Zach Wilson and 5 players the NY Jets could trade this offseason

2. Carl Lawson, DE, NY Jets

The Jets have a very interesting decision to make with Carl Lawson this offseason. Lawson is set to carry a $15.7 million cap hit in 2023, but the Jets have the flexibility to cut ties with just $333,333 in dead cap.

SNY's Connor Hughes reported earlier in the week that Lawson is not expected to be back in 2023 on his current contract. That means the Jets will do something with him this offseason.

They could opt to release him and save the cap space, but that likely isn't their preference. Extending Lawson is another option, but that comes with the risk of tying future money into a player who has an extensive injury history.

The third option could be to explore a trade. Trading Lawson on his current contract would save the same amount of money as releasing him would. Perhaps some team would be willing to take a chance on the former top free-agent signing returning to full health in 2023.

Lawson returned in 2022 after missing his first year with the Jets due to a torn Achilles, and while he did manage to appear in all 17 games, he clearly wasn't the same player he was before his injury.

That's mostly because Lawson didn't even start running until a few weeks before the start of training camp. Lawson actually suffered a setback in his recovery that certainly didn't help his effectiveness in 2022.

If the Jets do plan to release Lawson, it would make sense to see what they could get for him in a trade first. This is probably an unlikely scenario, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.