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By Brandon J. Koch
I think we can call last year a wash from defensive end Shaq Lawson.
I’m trying not to make excuses for him, but come on, he was handled so poorly. Doug Whaley telling the media after the first night of the Draft that the doctors cleared Lawson and he wouldn’t need surgery, then in June he gets his shoulder operated.
He then came back in late October to play his first NFL game against the Patriots, barley practicing before that. Lawson from that point on, was learning on the fly. Not easy for a rookie, even as talented as he is.
He finished 2016 with 13 tackles, 2 sacks and one forced fumble.
Of course, being in Rex’s genius scheme didn’t help the transition into becoming a pro. At the start of training camp, Lawson said he really didn’t fit and wasn’t comfortable last year and found it odd that Rex/Whaley drafted him. But that was last season.
Now onto this season, I’m expecting some nice things from Lawson. In Sean McDermott’s defense, he will be able to dig his hand into the ground and charge the passer. There won’t be him having to check pre-snap with the secondary, which in Rex’s defense, the ends had to do. I was keeping up on his twitter throughout the whole off-season and he was putting in a lot of work.
I think Lawson can get to 10 sacks this season, along with alot of pressures to the quarterback. He has such great potential and is a enormous talent. He should be even considered as an addition to the defense this year, because 2016 was a disaster.
Get ready for number 90.
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