Shaq not in a rush to be Carl Lawson

Shaq Lawson is a big man, even if he never will be the largest Shaq in the history of professional sports.

Speaking of namesakes, Lawson also was acquired by the Jets earlier this week to replace injured pass rusher star Carl Lawson on the team’s defensive line. But the six-year NFL veteran is feeling no pressure to perform like anyone but himself since his arrival from the Texans in a swap for a sixth-round draft pick.

“Not at all. I’m just going to give them the Shaq Lawson version,” Shaq Lawson joked after practice in Florham Park on Wednesday. “I don’t got no shoes to fill.

“[Carl Lawson] is a great guy. Everybody thought we were cousins for a long time. We really told people that in college. But nah, man, whatever the team needs me to do, I’m just going to do my job.”

Shaq Lawson has totaled 20.5 sacks since the Bills drafted him out of Clemson with the 19th-overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft. Four of those came in 14 games last season after he inked a threeyear deal worth $30 million with the Dolphins as a free agent.

The trade to the Jets marked the second time Lawson was moved in 2021. The Dolphins dealt him to Houston in March.

“It’s a blessing. I want a job,” Lawson said of coming to the Jets. “The reason I left for Miami was the opportunity, to take care of my family. At the end of the day, man, I’m waking up doing something I love every morning. In the NFL, it don’t matter what team you’re on, if you’re on a team, somebody wants you.

“That’s when I’ll start worrying. When nobody wants you, it’ll be different.”

One change Lawson fully expects to have a positive effect on his game is a return to a 4-3 defensive scheme under first-year Jets head coach Robert Saleh after being utilized as an outside linebacker in a 3-4 system with the Dolphins. He admitted the “last time I felt like I was myself ” was as a defensive end in a 4-3 alignment with the Bills in 2019.

“I know what type of coach they’ve got up here, who they brought up here,” Lawson said. “I think my energy matches [Saleh’s] energy from when I saw him coach the 49ers’ defense the last couple of years. When I found out I was coming up here, I was excited. That’s what I like to do, be myself.

“I could tell Coach [Saleh] likes dogs and I felt like I meet what he wants.”

Carl Lawson said similar things about Saleh’s defense upon his arrival after inking a three-year deal worth $45 million in July. The former Bengal was the talk of training camp until suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon while the Jets were holding joint practices with the Packers in Green Bay two weeks ago.