He played college football for the Clemson Tigers, and was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the first round of the 2016 NFL draft.

[2] Lawson was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and committed to Clemson University to play college football.

The four sacks tied William Perry and Ricky Sapp for most by a first-year freshman in Clemson history at the time.

[16] Lawson started the 2018 season as the backup to free-agent signing Trent Murphy, but still retained significant playing time as the Bills rotated their defensive personnel throughout games.

[19] Against the Miami Dolphins in Week 17, Lawson collected two sacks on Ryan Tannehill in addition to a forced fumble, making this his first career multi-sack game.

He finished the 2018 season with much-improved stats, recording 30 combined tackles, four sacks, two fumbles forced, and six passes defended on the year.

[27] In Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks, Lawson recorded his first sack as a Dolphin on Russell Wilson during the 31–23 loss.

[28] In Week 9, against the Arizona Cardinals, Lawson recovered a fumble forced by teammate Emmanuel Ogbah on Kyler Murray and returned it for a 36-yard touchdown during the 34–31 victory.

[33] During end of season interviews on January 23, 2023, Lawson said one of his former teams had told him, "Be seen and not heard", and said that coming back to Buffalo had helped get his mental state out of a dark place.

[34] During the 2022–23 season, Lawson played in 15 games, recording 31 combined tackles, 3.5 sacks, and a forced fumble.