Jets' Carl Lawson to miss season with ruptured left Achilles tendon

Carl Lawson’s first season as a Jet is over before it ever got started.

The Jets’ new edge rusher ruptured his left Achilles trying to get to Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in Thursday’s joint practice with Green Bay, the team announced.

This is a crushing blow for Lawson and the Jets.

They signed the 26-year-old Lawson to a three-year, $45 million deal and couldn’t wait to unleash their new defensive end and see him get after quarterbacks in Robert Saleh’s 4-3 scheme after dominating in practice.

Obsessed with training and studying film of edge rushers, the 6-2, 265-pound Lawson had been using his speed, quickness and strength to work over Mekhi Becton and any other offensive linemen the Jets put in front of him in camp.

After collecting 20 sacks in his first four seasons with the Bengals, Lawson was primed to for a breakout season as a major piece of Saleh’s aggressive, attacking defensive line.

"I’m not bashing anything I’ve played before," Lawson said last week. "But it’s like being unchained and then breaking the chains. That’s kind of how I feel in this system. It’s just being unleashed."

SEE PHOTOSPhotos: Jets-Packers joint practices

Now that’s on hold until next year.

Early on in 11-on-11 work on Thursday, Lawson came around the edge on left tackle Elgton Jenkins and collapsed as he was pursuing Rodgers. Players huddled around Lawson, who was carted off the field.

Saleh spoke to reporters before practice Thursday. He did not address the media following Lawson’s devastating injury. Jets receiver Corey Davis said he’s "praying for him," but he didn’t know the extent of Lawson’s injury at the time.

"I actually just heard about it at the end of practice," Davis said after practice. "He’s one of our guys, you know what I’m saying. You never want to see anyone go down, especially a guy of that caliber."

Lawson has a history of leg and knee injuries. During his sophomore year at Auburn in 2014, he tore his left ACL and missed the season. The next season, he only played in seven games due to injury. In 2018 as a second-year player with the Bengals, Lawson tore his right ACL.

He only became a full-time starter for Cincinnati last season. He had just 5.5 sacks but was among the NFL leaders with 32 quarterback hits.

The Jets have long needed an edge rusher who can disrupt the quarterback and Saleh and his defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich made Lawson their target. Ulbrich believed Lawson was going to make a name for himself this season.

"I had the highest regard for him before I got here," Ulbrich said. "He is one of the rare guys, an exceptional player, but the general public doesn’t know him yet. Everyone is caught up in sacks, quarterback disruptions, the statistical part of rushing the quarterback. He doesn’t always check those boxes, but he has historical win rates.

"He has an obsession with the game and to see him up close, the way he studies the offense, it’s as obsessed as [I've] ever seen. I’m blown away by what a student of the game he is."

The Jets were banking on Lawson, tackles Sheldon Rankins and Quinnen Williams and left end John Franklin-Myers giving opposing quarterback fits. They believed it would be difficult for offensive lines to play one-on-one on any of them and they would get a big push up front.

That group also was expected to help keep some of the pressure off of the Jets’ young and inexperienced cornerbacks that teams will be testing even more now.

With Lawson out, Bryce Huff, who had a sack in last week’s preseason game against the Giants, is expected to slide into the starting spot. Ronnie Blair and Jabari Zuniga could see a spike in playing time now as well.

The Jets also announced that safety Zane Lewis would miss the 2021 season after tearing his patella tendon and suffering a sprained MCL in Thursday’s practice. Lewis also was carted off the field.

Rankins (knee) and wide receiver Denzel Mims (hip) left practice also, but they’re considered day-to-day.

Notes & quotes: Davis said his chemistry with Zach Wilson is "definitely getting there." The more the receiver gets to play with the rookie quarterback, they are building a nice on-field bond.

"We’ve made a lot of huge strides, especially these last week and a half, two weeks," Davis said. "Zach is a lot more comfortable in the pocket, he’s delivering the ball really accurate. On my part, I’m getting open, creating a lot more space with him to make it a little bit easy."

Before Day 2 of the joint practice, Saleh reflected on how the offensive line looked and how the team ran the ball against the Packers on Wednesday.

"I really like the way the offense ran the ball yesterday," Saleh said. "Obviously, we’ve got to get more consistent in a pass protection standpoint, because when the protection’s there, we feel like we’ve got four really good quarterbacks that can get the ball and we’ve got receivers that can win one-on-ones. They’re working through all the different protection schemes that we have and the different techniques and they’re getting a lot better. It’s something that we’ve got to continue to improve on."

With Greg Bates in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin