Defensive end Shaq Lawson is among the Bills’ biggest free agent names. He’s slated to hit the open market on March 18, which seems more and more likely with each passing day.
On Monday evening, Lawson took to social media and made a bit of a damming statement about his 2019 season with the Bills. Responding to a fan, the 25-year-old said he “didn’t get the opportunity” to live up to the “hype” as the fan said, likely referencing Lawson’s status as a former first-round pick.
Here’s the exchange:
Lol didn’t get the opportunity lol I didn’t start one game last year. Only played 47% of the snaps. Still finish second in sacks and first for TFL https://t.co/O75JgTY3mb
— Shaq Lawson (@Shaq_Lawson90) March 9, 2020
This doesn’t mean that Lawson isn’t unhappy with the Bills. He did say at the end of the season at locker cleanout day that he would be open to returning to Buffalo. But Lawson does seem to want more snaps in his future. In terms of his snaps played, in 15 games, Lawson saw 47 percent of the Bills’ defensive snaps last season. None of those games were starts, something Lawson also points out.
Despite his lack of playing time, Lawson had a career-best year with 6.5 sacks, and 13 tackles for loss. Could those numbers be even better with more playing time?
Connecting the dots, it wouldn’t be surprising for Lawson to look into a one-year prove-it deal with a team that will want to give him more snaps. Lawson’s teammate and fellow free agent Jordan Phillips, did just that last year, and he’s in line for a big payday, too.
Buffalo might have to cough up the dollars and snaps if they want to retain Lawson.
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