It is incalculable, no doubt

That is the right word.

There was a story on Yahoo Sports with the headline – “Carl Lawson being out for the season an incalculable loss for the Jets.”

This is so true.

It’s definitely an “incalculable loss” for the Jets because he’s never played a regular season game for them, so how can you truly calculate what his loss means?

The headline obviously wasn’t making the same point I am. It was saying that this loss is devastating to the Jets.

I have no idea if it is. I’ve never seen him play a game for the Jets.

I saw him for three weeks dominate a 22-year-old offensive tackle, who is carrying way too much weight, and it’s making him sluggish on the field.

So perhaps Lawson’s domination of Becton led to hyperbole and people making him into Superman.

Very good player, not a great player. Be honest. Was he even on your radar during his four years with Cincinnati?

Look, I’m not looking to demean the player. He’s very good, but he had 20 sacks in four years with the Bengals, including just 5.5 last year, in a contract year.

Yes, he does get a lot of QB pressures, but the elite pass rushers can close the deal more consistently.

The reason he struggled closing the deal in Cincinnati is athletic stiffness. The great pass rushers have special flexibility and change-of-direction ability. Lawson doesn’t. It’s not his fault. It’s the body he’s been given.

“With all due respect, he plays his butt off.  He’s so stiff though, there’s no way he can be an end,” an unnamed scout told draft analyst Nolan Nawrocki before the 2017 draft.

So when people called his QB pressures in camp “sacks,” that was pure speculation, because you’re not allowed to sack or even touch the QB in training camp.

So yes he was getting by Becton a lot, but in a real game, would he have closed the deal, or would the QB have avoided him by moving in the pocket or rolling out?

One report called Lawson “the best, fastest, most exciting player on the Jets nearly every time he took the field” in camp.

Don’t know if he was the best, because the Jets have good players at other positions, but I can definitely assure you he wasn’t the “fastest.”  

Could probably name 30-40 players who are faster.

Look, he’s a very good player, and it’s unfortunate what happened to him, and the injury is bad for the Jets, but it should not be a huge surprise. He’s had two ACL injuries, along with a serious hip malady at Auburn. One of the reasons he slipped to the fourth round were medical red flags. That was no secret in the scouting community.
The bottom line is he’s a very good player, with a tremendous work ethic, who has a non-stop motor on the field.

But I’m telling you, this is an injury a team should be able to overcome

Some of the reactions to his injury are a little over the top, based on his contract, and his domination of Becton. But you wonder if the domination would have been the same if Becton weighed 340.

August 20, 2021

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