Dalvin Cook, Carl Lawson sound fed up with limited Jets roles as trade deadline looms
The two Jets who have been rumored to be on the trading block both answered questions about their futures carefully on Thursday.
Neither running back Dalvin Cook nor edge rusher Carl Lawson would say they want to be traded, but both sounded upset with their reduced roles this season and open to an opportunity to play more somewhere else.
“For me, I let the business side handle the business side,” Cook said. “I’ll be ready, man. Every day I go out there, I bust my ass. I do the things I need to do to be ready when my number’s called and be ready to perform.”
After signing a $7 million deal with the Jets in August, Cook has barely touched the ball.
He has 39 carries for 109 yards and nine catches for 46 yards.
This comes after four straight 1,000-yard seasons with the Vikings for Cook.
“It’s obviously been a different situation for me to be in,” Cook said. “Just coming from where I come from, just being productive in this league to not getting as many touches and stuff like that. You just adjust. You still sharpen your iron. That’s what I do every day. I prepare the same way as I prepared any other year. It’s still the same for me. It’s just game day is a little different.”
Cook said he would not go to Jets GM Joe Douglas and ask for a trade, but acknowledged his frustration.
“Of course it’s frustrating,” Cook said. “I’m an honest person. I want to play. Yeah, it’s frustrating. It’s new to me. I come from getting the ball 20 times a game or however many times. Yeah, of course it’s frustrating.”
Lawson has played even less than Cook.
He was inactive for two games and has played just 17 percent of the snaps.
A big free-agent signing in 2021, Lawson now is a role player on defense.
“I definitely want to play and contribute because I know I can,” Lawson said. “I’ve proven that. I always want to contribute. But right now I’m with the Jets. I definitely want to play more. I definitely want to do what I did last year and then some. Coming off a double Achilles, I put up good numbers. I feel like I can do more.”
Like Cook, Lawson would not say he wants to be traded but he sounded like a player who knows his days with the Jets are numbered.
Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett had a blunt assessment of the offense when asked what he saw during his self-scouting in the bye week: “We sucked in the red zone and we sucked on third down.”
RG Joe Tippmann (quad) did not practice again Thursday and appears unlikely to play Sunday.
CBs Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed remain in the concussion protocol but both practiced fully on Thursday and should be cleared by Sunday.