Report: Texans could deal Shaq Lawson, Lonnie Johnson

Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio has had a busy preseason so far, and he might not be finished.

According to a report on Friday, two Houston Texans are being “heavily discussed” as outgoing trade candidates: safety Lonnie Johnson and defensive end Shaq Lawson.

Both Lawson and Johnson are listed as backups on the Texans’ depth chart, but they are slated to receive significant playing time in 2021. The news came out a day before the Miami Dolphins emerged as a frontrunner in a potential trade for Houston Texans’ star quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Lawson has not yet played a game for the Houston Texans, after arriving this offseason in a trade from the Miami Dolphins. Lawson attended Clemson from 2013 to 2015, and in his three-year career, he tallied 123 tackles (45.5 tackles for loss) and 20 sacks. He had four sacks as a freshman, tying the most by a true freshman in Clemson history, though that record was broken in 2016 by Dexter Lawrence. In Lawson’s senior year at Clemson, his 59-tackle (24.5 for loss), 12.5-sack performance made him a consensus All-American.

Lawson was selected in the first round with the 19th-overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft, landing him with the Buffalo Bills. He played four seasons with the Bills, totaling 108 tackles, 25 tackles for loss, and 16.5 sacks in 50 games and 17 starts, then the Bills declined the fifth-year option on his contract. As a result, he became a free agent, and in March of 2020, he signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the Miami Dolphins. Lawson started seven of the 14 games he appeared in while with the Dolphins and had 32 tackles.

Johnson is coming off just his second NFL season, both with the Texans. A native of Gary, Indiana, the three-star safety enrolled in Garden City Community College out of high school, then transferred — this time, as a four-star recruit — to Kentucky, where he totaled 64 tackles (three for a loss), one sack, 12 pass breakups, two blocked kicks and an interception. He was selected in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans, taken off the board at No. 54 overall.

Johnson has been a sporadic starter since being drafted, getting the nod in 12 of 30 games played. He’s registered 117 tackles — 90 of them solo — and has seven passes defended. Johnson is in year three of a four-year, $5.2 million contract that he signed after the NFL Draft.