Carl Lawson got to sit down with Jets coach Robert Saleh for the first time on Thursday, but the new Jets pass rusher already is a fan.

“It really started a while ago,” Lawson said about what drew him to the Jets. “I looked up some stuff on YouTube about Coach Saleh. I’ve heard about him throughout the league and I saw he took the job here. I looked at some of his interviews and I just came away with how impressive he was, the message he was preaching. Even in a video, I felt like he was talking to me. That was in the back of my mind. It kind of started there.”

Though Lawson may love his new coach, there is no doubt the Jets helped make his free-agency decision easier by offering him a three-year, $45 million contract with $30 million guaranteed.

“There was a bunch of reasons,” Lawson said of his decision. “Obviously everybody can see money was one of them. It’s pretty obvious that’s one of them, but that wasn’t the biggest one.”

Lawson comes to the Jets from the Bengals. He was a 2017 fourth-round pick who blossomed into a pass-rushing force. His sack numbers are modest (20 in four years), but he is respected around the league for getting pressure on the quarterback and disrupting offenses. The Jets are getting a player who is just entering his prime and will be 26 when the season arrives.

“The biggest strength I have is the willingness to improve and get better, along with my athletic traits,” Lawson said. “I have all the athletic traits to be as good as I want to be. You pair that with the commitment to get better. The contract is great. But that was more so being able to take care of my family. But now something that comes along with the contract is I get to just worry about my craft.”

The breakdown of the contract, which Lawson signed Thursday, is guaranteed salaries of $6.2 million in 2021 and $15 million in 2022, a $7.8 million roster bonus he’ll get next week and a $1 million signing bonus with a 2023 salary of $15 million that is not guaranteed. He also has an annual $800,000 sacks incentive.

“They really wanted me here,” said Lawson, who declined to say how much interest the Bengals or any other team showed in him. “That speaks volumes to me.”

The Jets spent big money on Lawson to improve their pass rush. He is the first big-money pass rusher they have invested in since Calvin Pace in 2008. Lawson comes to a team that finished 2-14 last year and has missed the playoffs for 10 straight seasons. Jets general manager Joe Douglas is signing players he hopes can not only turn the team around on the field but also build a winning culture.

“I’m looking forward to building with the New York Jets,” Lawson said. “There’s a lot of optimism, especially coming off a bad season. I’m looking forward to work. I love the process. I play Madden because I love building teams.”

Now, he can play with the Jets on Madden and in real life. He’ll get to see what Saleh can do for him after studying him on YouTube.

“I think it’s going to do wonders for my career,” Lawson said. “I’m excited to play here. I’m excited to be a Jet. I’m coming in with all the optimism in the world.”