[autotag]Carl Lawson[/autotag] is set to make his return from an Achilles injury for the New York Jets after being activated from the physically unable to perform list.
The injury caused him to miss the entire first season of his Jets career and his head coach Robert Saleh is excited to have him back.
“Oh, man. It feels awesome to get the d-line working again,” Saleh said. “D-line and o-line competing. Carl – he’s a freak. I’m telling you he was ready to practice at OTAs, it’s just we have to protect Carl from Carl in terms of the amount of work he has to do because he won’t stop unless we tell him to stop. So, were excited to have him back.”
It makes since that the Jets are excited to get him back, they went 4-13 last year in their first season under Saleh.
Lawson was one of their top free-agent signings ahead of that injury. He has made 20 sacks in his first four seasons and he led all defensive lineman with 32 quarterbacks hits in 2020.
Coming of off one of the worst injures in sports it check take time for a player to return to their former level. Saleh was asked about this and believes because Lawson uses his power and strength he may be better off than a player who relies on their speed.
“That’s a really good question,” Salah said. “Carl’s game is actually much more power than anything. He still has all the power and strength and all of that stuff. As he acclimates and gets comfortable and is working through his movements, he’ll return to form. There’s no way I’d be able to tell you one way or another until we get pads on, but he looks good. He looks good.”
Lawson played at Auburn from 2013-16 and played in 33 games, making 24.0 tackles for loss and 14.0 sacks.
[mm-video type=video id=01f0wahz9kg1jh84by playlist_id=01eqbyzb4ahnasj2m3 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f0wahz9kg1jh84by/01f0wahz9kg1jh84by-4bd8c43ab50d983db848b7a92a7edf94.jpg]
[vertical-gallery id=50697]
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow JD on Twitter @jdmccarthy15.
Let us know your thoughts, and comment on this story below. Join the conversation today!