DeMarcus Lawrence had back-to-back seasons of double-digit sacks in 2017 and 2018.
Doing so landed him a five-year, $105 million contract in April of 2019.
Lawrence and the Cowboys restructured his contract earlier this offseason.
They moved $13.3 of his $15 million salary into a signing bonus to create cap space.
A broken foot in 2021 sidelined him for over a month.
This past season he battled through a handful of bumps and bruises. That same foot also gave him problems.
Lawrence is one of my favorite players and has been really consistent since Dallas drafted him in 2014.
In nine seasons, he has 386 tackles, 113 quarterback hits and 54.5 sacks.
He's been named second-team All-Pro once and gone to two Pro Bowls.
value in 2023
Even averaging just around 6.0 sacks a season, the presence of Lawrence allows Micah Parsons to get some better matchups.
I still label Lawrence as an elite pass rusher, and having one on each side is always a good thing.
I am running out of words to say how good Demarcus Lawrence is. pic.twitter.com/d9yRjkiRrY
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) December 20, 2021
The one thing I worry about is his health, he has been beaten up the last few years.
His veteran leadership is a key for Dallas, and something he does better than most think is stopping the run.
Adding Mazi Smith in the draft will help bolster the run defense.
It might even worth a try to move DLaw inside a few times this season and see how they fair.
With extra depth on the edge in Sam Williams and Dante Fowler, you can try these things.
Fowler had the same amount of sacks as Lawrence did a year ago.
Williams has a chance to be a breakout star for this team.
The Cowboys defense has the chance to be the best in football.
I love how vocal he is about his confidence in this team.
He knows what the Eagles just did a season ago, but doesn't think the gap is that big.
“I don't feel like it's a huge gap at all,” Lawrence told the Associated Press. “I feel like it comes down to certain details. Not just the scheme but also your locker room.”
Dallas just added two huge players in March to make that ‘gap' a lot smaller.
A former defensive player of the year in Stephon Gilmore and a walking 1000-yard receiver in Brandin Cooks.
Next week is going to be a lot of fun!
Cowboys report to training camp tomorrow and storylines will finally be back.
It's been real dry the last month or so with no football, but man I'm excited to see tweets and videos of the players again.
Starting next week, we will have football pretty much until the Cowboys season ends sometime in 2024.
Yes, they will win another 12 games and make the playoffs.
It will be led by this defense, and the offense will probably average around 25-26 points, just a hair under the 30 they did last season.
The value of Lawrence will show again this year, and he will make some big time plays like he has in the past.
Let's hope his foot feels good, and he's ready to go for another long season.
