While the Seattle Seahawks made significant moves on offense by signing Cooper Kupp and Sam Darnold during the first week of free agency, they also made what they hope to be an impact signing on defense.
Four-time Pro Bowl selection and 2017 All-Pro Second-Team pick DeMarcus Lawrence has left the Dallas Cowboys to join Mike Macdonald’s squad on a three-year contract. At 32 years old and recovering from a Lisfranc injury, Lawrence could be in the twilight of his career. Does ‘Tank’ have enough left in the tank to boost a Seahawks defense that ended the season playing some of its best football in years?
In a special edition of 5 Qs and 5 As, I asked the great RJ Ochoa, Editor-in-Chief over at Blogging the Boys, about what Lawrence provides to a defense, how much he’s meant to the Cowboys organization, and that little spat with Micah Parsons on social media.
Can you provide more background as to how important DeMarcus Lawrence has been to the Dallas Cowboys defense?
RJ: DeMarcus has been one of the most underrated Cowboys of the last decade. He has been an absolutely elite run defender and his low sack numbers have warped how people view him because of the contracts he has been on. Important context to have is that Tank (his nickname) was arguably the first player to really push the front office in contractual battles. Even casual Seahawks fans are likely aware of how Dallas has gone about things poorly with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, etc etc, as noted that playbook was arguably authored by Lawrence with how he played on the franchise tag and called the team’s bluff.
People always held the contract against him relative to sack numbers to bring that point full circle. In that sense he has been critical for player empowerment and was really so relative to team leadership. Obviously that got a bit dramatic on his way out, but there is no doubt that he has been one of the most special players the team has had in a minute.
Lawrence hasn’t hit double-digit sacks since 2018. In fact, he hasn’t reached seven sacks in any season during that span. Is that a case of the relative lack of sacks not telling the full story of his pass rushing abilities?
RJ: Honestly I had not seen this question before I answered the first! I’d say it was circumstantial. Early in his career the pass rush as a whole was so porous. He only played with Micah Parsons for four seasons and was injured most of the last one. It was just a poor run of coincidences in my opinion. He authored many great moments.
The Seahawks have had issues at times in recent seasons defending the run due to an inability to set the edge. What does Lawrence provide in terms of run defense?
RJ: You can make an argument, as I sort of did, that Tank was the best run-defending edge rusher in the NFL for about a five-year period (2019-2023 ish). People expect sacks from those positions so again the casuals have always felt like he was overrated, but he was just as good at that last season before getting injured.
How well was Lawrence playing prior to his Lisfranc fracture in 2024?
RJ: I promise I am not reading ahead! I think it’s fair to say his overall game had dipped, but I would caution any evaluation of the 2024 Cowboys to be met with the context of the team not trying at all (it feels like that got a lot of national attention so it will be believable, I promise it isn’t just me coping… I imagine Mookie would back that up to you all). For the record most Cowboys fans felt like it was the right decision to let him walk for the price that Seattle paid, but he will absolutely be missed.
DeMarcus Lawrence said “Dallas is my home… made my home there, my family lives there, I’m forever gonna be there. But I know for sure I’m not gonna win a Super Bowl there.” What is your response to that quote?
RJ: Honestly I thought the quote was a bit of a misread at first. I initially thought he was just trying to hype up how Seattle was his team now and the Cowboys weren’t going to win the Super Bowl because he was no longer a part of them. That was clearly wrong! It is important to understand that Tank was never shy about making a headline while playing for the Cowboys. I would also add that it is important, again I think this context matters and am not trying to just be a whiny Cowboys fan, what the drought that Dallas is in has done to so many players. It is different playing for the Cowboys; that feels fair to say. And I think that DeMarcus probably got sick of the negatives (there are a lot of positives) and maybe felt a certain type of way upon his departure. That he dug in even more against Micah Parsons really felt like their difference of opinion (it was reported that they had one for a while now) was significant.
It makes sense that the Cowboys would lean to the side of Micah, but ultimately my takeaway is that it was a bummer. Lawrence was taken in the same draft (one round later) as Zack Martin and so they were the longest-tenured members of the team. Zack went out with an amazing retirement press conference and for Tank to go out of his way to take a shot just felt… awkward.
Thanks to RJ for answering all of my questions! And just to put a bow on the last question and all of the hoopla Lawrence caused with that line about never winning a Super Bowl in Dallas, he did release this more, er, proper farewell statement to the Cowboys.
