Texans rework Shaq Lawson's deal, covert $7M in salary into signing bonus

The Texans have converted $7M of Shaq Lawson‘s contract into a signing bonus, as Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The move will carve out $5.2M in breathing room for Houston while adding two voidable years to the edge rusher’s deal.

Lawson arrived a couple weeks back in the trade that sent inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney to Miami. He was the second player from Miami’s 2020 front-seven spending spree to be jettisoned in a matter of days, following the release of Kyle Van Noy.

Lawson turned in a solid, if unspectacular, 2020 campaign with the Dolphins. Previous to that, Lawson recorded a career-high 6.5 sacks for the Bills in 2019. For all intents and purposes, Lawson’s is set to continue on the three-year, $30M he inked with the ‘Fins last spring. But, thanks to those voidable years, the Texans can kick the can down the road a bit.

For his career, Sack-a-Shaq has 20.5 sacks across five pro seasons. Barring any further changes to his deal, he’s due to make $8.9M in 2022.