FRISCO, Texas 鈥 Micah Parsons and Osa Odighizuwa rightfully get a lot of attention and recognition for what they bring to the Cowboys pass rush. But don't forget about Carl Lawson, who is healthy and playing some of his best football yet.
"I think the last couple weeks, I'm starting to see me getting back to what my true form is," Lawson said. "And I honestly think there's a lot more that I can reach, so every day I'm just trying to strive to get to that place."
Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said on Monday that Lawson played his best game of the season in Dallas' 30-14 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, where he recorded his fifth sack of the season, tied for second on the team behind Parsons.
Lawson has always been a high-end player, but injuries have limited him from consistently playing at a high level. A five-star recruit and #1 ranked edge rusher in the class of 2013, Lawson went on to have a fantastic true freshman season at Auburn with 20 tackles and four sacks, before a torn ACL kept him out of the 2014 season and a hip injury limited his 2015 season. Finally, in 2016 he was a First Team All American with nine sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss before being selected in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Unfortunately, the injury misfortune continued in the NFL too. Following a rookie season with the Bengals that included 8.5 sacks, Lawson tore his ACL in Week 8 of the 2018 season. Three years later after signing a 3-year, $45 million deal with the New York Jets, he ruptured his Achilles tendon and missed the entire 2021 season. Ever since then, he's worked to get back to the level he was playing at before the Achilles tear.
"Explosive, fast, technical, and not really thinking, and just healthy, I think that's where I'm at my best," Lawson said. "There was a time right before I tore my Achilles where I was pretty damn near unstoppable, and I've just been working ever since to try to get back to that, it's been a tough road."
The 2024 season with the Cowboys was the first time that Lawson had ever spent time on a practice squad in his NFL career. It was an odd feeling considering how established he had made himself when healthy, but Lawson proved to himself that he wasn't a quitter during the process.
"It's a very humbling but beautiful experience, because you get to sit there and just start from scratch again," Lawson said. "Very few people get that opportunity in the NFL, and I'm very thankful that I got that opportunity here."
Part of the opportunity that Lawson has gotten in Dallas has been to play alongside and learn from Parsons, and he's been impressed with what the All-Pro brings to the table.
"Very explosive, very instinctual, you can see it in his personality," Lawson said of Parsons. "It translates very much to the field, he is his play, and he's very authentic with how he goes about his play. He is a lion in a sense, that's just how he is."
While he doesn't necessarily try to "copy" certain players moves for himself, he does pick off and learn from the players around him, and recognizes what being able to do that with an elite pass rusher like Parsons can do for his game as well.
"I think it'd be foolish to not watch great players and try to learn from them," Lawson said. "I don't think it's beneficial to just sit there and let it happen, and watch and not learn."
And don't get it twisted: Parsons and Odighizuwa get a lot of attention from opposing teams, but even when they don't, Lawson can still win his fair share of battles too.
"No disrespect to them, I don't feel like it was kind of one of those things, I think we each can win our one-on-one matchups鈥" Lawson said when asked if attention to Parsons and Odighizuwa has opened things up for him.
"I think it definitely helps, because everybody has their attention on Micah, but I do believe I have the ability to win my one-on-one without attention being diverted anywhere else."
The impact that Lawson has had may be unexpected for some, but he knew the entire time he could and would play at this level again.
It was only a matter of time.
"It's a blessing, I knew it was going to happen because I've never taken this game for granted, it was just circumstances that I couldn't control," Lawson said. "I just need to be in the right environment and in the right place鈥 I knew eventually I would get here, I just didn't know when."
