Justin Lawler: DE · SMU · #99.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Justin Lawler
Holds up snap after snap without a weakness to attack. The three seasons at SMU span two head coaches: June Jones and Chad Morris. A game that shows it: 10 tackles against Navy — Week 11, 2017.
Play style
No single standout number, but nothing missing either — competent across the board.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
74 tackles. 2 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 15.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2017 season · 12 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 58-14vs Stephen F. Austin | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 54-32vs North Texas | 7 | 5 | 3.0 | 2.0 | — | 0 | 2 sacks |
| Wk 3 | L 36-56@ No. 20 TCU | 9 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 44-21vs Arkansas State | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 5 | W 49-28vs UConn | 7 | 5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | — | 0 | 4 sacks |
| Wk 6 | L 22-35@ Houston | 7 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 8 | W 31-28@ Cincinnati | 6 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 38-34vs Tulsa | 8 | 8 | 3.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | 3.0 TFL |
| Wk 10 | L 24-31vs No. 15 UCF | 4 | 3 | 1.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 40-43@ Navy | 10 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 10 tackles |
| Wk 12 | L 45-66@ No. 18 Memphis | 4 | 4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 41-38vs Tulane | 5 | 3 | 1.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 74 | 42 | 15.5 | 9.5 | — | 2 |
Week 5 · 2017
W 49-28
vs UConn
4 sacks · 4 tackles for loss · 7 tackles
Dominant 21-point win at home against UConn.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Sack rate
13%10 sacksTFL rate
21%16 TFLHurry rate
14%10 hurriesPressure-to-sack conversion
49%10 of 20 pressures74 tackles · 15.5 for loss · 9.5 sacks.
Splits · Per-game
2017 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 5.4 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.1 |
| Road5g | 7.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 6.2 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 6.2 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Chad Morris
Pass share
50.1%
485 pass / 483 run
Plays / game
74.5
13 games
Team sack rate
4.4%
523 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2017
74 tackles in 12 games, more tackles a game than nearly every FBS defensive lineman who plays every week.
How it ended
Three seasons at SMU, 16 sacks — drafted at #244 overall by the Los Angeles Rams.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
Coaching lineage · 2013–2017
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: June Jones → Chad Morris. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Next stop · NFL
Los Angeles RamsEntering 9th NFL season
Los Angeles RamsEntering 9th NFL season
