Drag? Skijump?
Drag would increase. But only marginally.
They were descending and slowing gently with the existing settings, so that rate of slowing from drag would have increased, in addition to the slowing from energy exchange.
OG is right. There was probably not time in any case. Being gentle, they'd need a while to make the exchange.
Free falling a distance h=14m takes a time t = sqrt(2h/g)=1.7s. Could they have pulled up to 2g to take this time? If so, they'd surely have enjoyed an accelerated stall, which in this case wouldn't have lead to them doing a Bud Holland/Elmendorf C17, but rather an unavailability of sufficient lift to execute the commanded climb.
If they didn't realize they needed more power, it's unlikely that they'd realize they needed to exchange speed for height either.
Climbing to over tree-top height would also have reduced their ground effect… perhaps leading to a stall? Would flopping onto the trees have been less destructive than settling into them? Almost all the passengers were unshaken enough to climb out. If it had dropped from 30m, that might not have been the case.
A skijump is very different - that points you upwards using the reaction force with the ground through the wheels. Zeus, for whatever reason, forgot to grab under the A320 and push to give them such an advantage.