Trade: DE Shaq Lawson to Jets for 6th

[Keith]

The Texans picked up (the Niners') 2022 6th rounder from the Jets for DE Shaq Lawson. The move creates $1.7M in dead money this year PLUS another $5.3M in dead money in 2022.

This negative on the financials is because the Texans converted his base salary to bonus sometime after they acquired Lawson from the Dolphins (along with another 6th) for LB Benardrick McKinney. So, they basically paid for another sixth rounder as like they paid $3M of WR Randall Cobb's $9M salary in an exchange with the Packers for a 6th round pick.

Lawson seemed buried on the Texans depth chart during preseason games. The team feels like depth on the line is pretty good, making Lawson expendable. Eating the dead money is what made Lawson tradeable, but he has to ultimately be seen as a disappointment; I'm guessing the team really expected him to be an impact player this season when they acquired him.

So, the upshot is this is another example of the *new* Texans making a football move in spite of any negative financial implications or fear of wearing egg on their faces. So that's encouraging. Holding onto Lawson and not playing him wasn't going to increase his value, so getting a late pick instead of nothing seems to beat the alternative.