All 49ers

Will the 49ers Sign Defensive End Carl Lawson?

The 49ers need another edge rusher.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 29, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Dallas Cowboys defensive end Carl Lawson (55) against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Dec 29, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Dallas Cowboys defensive end Carl Lawson (55) against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers need another edge rusher.

They have Nick Bosa who's one of the best in the league. But after him, it's unclear what they have. Yetur Gross-Matos is more effective rushing from the interior than from the edge and Mykel Williams might be as well. Plus Drake Jackson hasn't played since he tore his patellar tendon in November of 2023. And he wasn't particularly good before he went down.

So the 49ers could be in the market for an inexpensive defensive end. And the best one available might be Carl Lawson.

Lawson, 29, was drafted by the Bengals in 2017. From 2022 to 2023, he played for the Jets, whose head coach at the time was Robert Saleh. Now, he's the 49ers defensive coordinator. Last year, he played for the Cowboys, recorded 5 sacks in 15 games and posted a 12.4 pressure percentage which was better than Leonard Floyd who started for the 49ers last year.

The 49ers probably could sign Lawson to a cheap one-year deal and he'd be well worth the investment. On first and second down, he wouldn't play much because he's not great against the run. In those situations, the defensive ends would be Bosa and Williams. But on third down, Williams could move to defensive tackle and Lawson could rush the quarterback from the edge opposite Bosa. Lawson isn't a great player, but he would be the 49ers' second-best pass rusher.

I'm guessing the 49ers want to give Jackson the first shot to win that third-down pass-rush role considering they spent a second-round pick on him and he'll be a free agent next year. But if he doesn't make dramatic strides soon, the 49ers should sign Lawson.

Read more

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News