Carl Lawson’s reasons for signing with the Jets go far beyond the monster contract Joe Douglas put together to lure him to the Big Apple.
Lawson cited Robert Saleh as a driving force behind his decision to put pen to paper with New York. Saleh’s hiring as Jets head coach piqued Lawson’s interest and he started doing his research to see what it would be like to play for him. After watching YouTube videos of Saleh at work, Lawson found himself hooked on the idea of playing for a coach who prides himself on passion.
“I looked up some stuff about Coach Saleh on YouTube,” Lawson said Thursday, per SNY. “I saw he took the job here and I looked at some of his interviews and I came away with how impressive he was with the message he was preaching, even in a video. I felt like he was talking to me. In the back of my mind, it kind of started there.”
Lawson’s next step after doing his due diligence on Saleh was checking out New York’s defensive line depth chart. The 25-year-old quickly recognized himself as a fit in Saleh and Jeff Ulbrich’s 4-3 base defense and saw playing time available for the taking, only adding to his already growing interest in joining the Jets.
“I was seeing that he was here and there was availability at the spot,” Lawson said. “I was thinking about that scheme, I was thinking about my skillset, so those were the first two things that kind of really attracted me here.”
Between his affinity for Saleh, his skillset aligning with New York’s defensive scheme, his local family ties to the area — Lawson’s mother was born in New Jersey and his father is from Queens — the Auburn product ultimately decided One Jets Drive was the place for him. The opportunity to play next to Quinnen Williams didn’t hurt, either, as Lawson cited that as yet another reason the Jets topped his list of free agent suitors, per the New York Daily News’s Daniel Bienaime.
The Jets identified Lawson as a top target early in free agency and moved swiftly to get a deal done. Offering $45 million and $30 million in guaranteed money is enough to get most players to sign on the dotted line, but Lawson’s reasons for joining the Jets were not purely money motivated.
New York has its rookie head coach to thank for that.