Bills defensive end Shaq Lawson is one of few players that remained from the time before Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott took the job. In fact, he’s the only draft pick from Buffalo’s old front office remaining.
While the Bills didn’t cast aside Lawson like many of his from former teammates while Rex Ryan was the team’s head coach, the Bills didn’t commit to him for a fifth season.
As a former first-round pick, the Bills had a fifth-year option on his rookie contract. They declined it. Lawson hadn’t be very productive in his career, to that point, and it’s a hefty price tag, perhaps near $10 million for the season.
Instead of taking this personally and putting it in cruise control for the 2019 season, Lawson had a career-year.
“That motivated me all year. Didn’t pick it up, I mean, that’s saying something,” Lawson told reporters at locker cleanout day.
The Bills put Lawson in a weird situation. He returned the favor because now the team is in the odd spot. Re-signing Lawson makes sense, but it won’t be cheap. He led the Bills with 17 tackles for loss this season and had 6.5 sacks, second-highest on the Bills. While not a monster number, his first three years combined, Lawson only had 10 sacks.
The motivation worked, and despite the tag being decline, Lawson’s still hopeful to be with the Bills.
“I knew what I had to do and hopefully I got a teams eyes, the Bills’ eye, hopefully… I want to be here, but have to see how everything works out,” Lawson said.
“Oh yeah, yeah… I’m open to returning [to Buffalo]. But I just got to see where everything fall at,” Lawson added.
When the Bills decided to forgo Lawson’s option, McDermott indicated at rookie minicamp that bringing the defender back was not off the table, saying the two sides were on “the same page” about the decision.
“Doesn’t necessarily mean after this year we will go our separate ways. We like the work he’s put in,” McDermott said at the time.
Recently via ESPN, McDermott complimented Lawson’s play after the Bills’ tight loss to the Ravens as well.
“He’s one of the dogs force that goes out and hunts,” McDermott said. “He’s playing at a high level.”
While consistently complimenting the city of Buffalo itself, the Bills’ future is also something Lawson is weighing into, what he called his “business decision,” ahead. That could be something in the Bills’ favor.
“I enjoy being in Buffalo. Small city like where I’m from, it’s chill. If everything works out, I’d love to be here,” Lawson said.
“It’s a great season and the team is only going to get better from there. I said that at the beginning of the year, I said this is going to be a special team and we caught a lot of peoples eye this year,” Lawson added.
The Bills and Lawson have until March 18 at 4 p.m. to workout a new deal, as free agency opens then.
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