The Pittsburgh Steelers have reportedly met, or will meet, with quite a few edge rushers on Saturday and one of them will be Auburn’s Carl Lawson.
Lawson, who recorded 30 total tackles and 9 sacks last season, confirmed his formal meeting with the Steelers during his Saturday interview with the media. He also indicated that he has no issues if ultimately drafted by the Steelers
“Since I’ve been a kid, I’ve watched every NFL team and every NFL pass rusher, so it wouldn’t be a travesty for me to go there [Pittsburgh],” Lawson said. “I watched LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison go feast on the quarterback. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense, when they had Kevin Greene back in the day, that’s not a bad thing.”
The medical check-up portion of the combine will likely be huge for Lawson being as he missed quite a few games during his college career because of a torn ACL and a cracked hip. With that said, Lawson claimed on Saturday that those injuries are now behind him.
“I played a year and a half injury free and so it’s been a while,” Lawson said.
The cracked hip that Lawson suffered during the 2015 season-opener against Louisville wound up forcing him to miss the next six games and on Saturday he sounded proud that he was able to return to action as quickly as he did.
“It sounds serious, but how many weeks did I miss and then I come back and play? That’s the question. It sounds serious, but it wasn’t that serious,” Lawson said of his cracked hip injury.
Lawson enviably was asked who he compares his style of play to on Saturday and while he ultimately rattled off the names of 10 current NFL players that included LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison, he also believes he has some individuality to the way he plays.
“I’m not going to sit here and say I’m like this guy, but I think one of the things that makes me unique is that I can do a bunch of different things like other people and I have my own things that I add on to that,” Lawson said.
Lawson measured in at Indianapolis at 6’2″, 261-pounds and while he does have 10 3/8-inch hands, his arms are only 31 1/2-inches long. Those short arms, however, helped him on the bench press as he reportedly did 35 reps of 225-pounds on Saturday. Lawson also said Saturday that his hands and explosiveness are his two big traits that stand out for him.
One thing is for certain when it comes to Lawson and it’s the fact that he doesn’t lack confidence that he can play in the NFL at a high level.
“If you look at all of my game film, I consistently win the one-on-ones and I’m a great pass-rusher,” Lawson said.
Lawson and the rest of the defensive linemen and linebackers who were invited to this year’s combine will go through the on-field drills on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
You can watch Lawson’s Saturday combine interview below courtesy of AL.com.
