What it means

Let’s take a deep dive into what this means . . .

As most of you know by now, NFL Insiders Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo announced that Jets DE Carl Lawson suffered an achilles injury in a practice with the Green Bay Packers.  Lawson is represented by CAA (Creative Artists Agency) which reps a lot of broadcasters.

How devastating is this for the Jets?

Tough blow, but not devastating.

Lawson had 5.5 sacks and 36 tackles for the Cincinnati Bengals last year. Bryce Huff, Lawson’s likely replacement, can certainly replicate those numbers. Huff had two sacks in the Jets’ 2021 preseason opener against the Football Giants.

Lawson had a lot of QB pressures last year, so that needs to be factored in as well. Huff has been in the face of the Jets’ quarterbacks all camp. We will see if that translates to games.

A lot has been made about Lawson being dominating in camp, but that needs to be put into perspective.

A lot of this is due to Mekhi Becton carrying too much weight, especially for a zone blocking system. Even Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur admitted today that Becton isn’t having a good summer.

“He’s not playing at his best, and he knows that,” LaFleur said today in Green Bay. “He’s a good dude and he’s going to work through all this stuff.”

Being “a good dude” has very little to do with his, and he is “a good dude.”

Becton, who played last year at 380, is clearly overweight, and it’s impacting his play, and Lawson took advantage of the player’s weight issue, which impacts his mobility, to have a big camp.

Look, Lawson’s a good player, but in his matchups with Becton, he looked like Lawrence Taylor. Lawson’s a solid player, but not LT, Von Miller or anybody like that.

Becton’s weight concerns impact his pass protection more than his run blocking. We saw that last year in the Jets’ loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. The Jets ran for 206 yards in that game, with so many big runs coming behind Becton. His run blocking was superb. Becton dominated DE Clelin Ferrell in the ground game. However, Ferrell, who is not a great pass rusher, beat Becton for two sacks that led to fumbles. Those were Ferrell’s only two sacks of the season.

So let’s put Lawson’s domination this summer in perspective. He was going against a player who needs to drop about 30 pounds and doesn’t fit the team’s new zone blocking scheme at his current weight.

Look, the Lawson injury isn’t ideal, but I do think the Jets can overcome it. Huff has looked really good this summer, and the Jets should have Vinny Curry back at some point early in the season, and John Franklin-Myers has flashed, as has rookie free agent Hamlicar Rashed. They also have second-year end Jabari Zuniga, who has potential. Robert Saleh loves former 49ers defensive lineman Ronald Blair, who the team added on June 1. An under-the-radar player is Jeremiah Valoaga, who has flashed at times in camp.

The Lawson signing was somewhat risky considering his injury history, including two serious ACL injuries. One issue is that he’s very stiff athletically (not his fault), and that can make players more injury-prone that loose athletes.

Look, I know this isn’t a common opinion, but I do think the Jets can overcome this injury, and replace a player who has 20 career sacks in four years.

Once again, far from ideal, but they can live to see another day.

August 19, 2021

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