After famously failing to agree to any major deals in free agency over the past decade, with most of their moves either around the margins or via trades for failed former first-round picks, the Dallas Cowboys have to say goodbye to one of their long-time defensive stalwarts in DeMarcus Lawrence, who has officially left the team in free agency.
That's right, after over a decade in the trenches for Dallas, Lawrence is taking his talents to Seattle, where he will join the Seahawks on a three-year, $42 million deal, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.
“Four-time Pro Bowl DE DeMarcus Lawrence is signing a three-year deal worth up to $42 million with the Seahawks, his agents David Canter and Ness Mugrabi of Aura Sports Group tell The Insiders. He gets $18M guaranteed,” Tom Pelissero wrote.
“Lawrence, who turns 33 next month, had 61.5 career sacks over 11 seasons in Dallas but played just four games last season. Now, a fresh start in Seattle.”
Initially drafted in the second round out of Boise State, Lawrence has spent his entire career in Dallas, amassing 450 tackles, 126 QB hits, and 61.5 sacks over his 141 regular season games with the team. While he did miss all but four games for the team in 2024, which had to play into this decision at least a little bit, in 2022 and 2023, he turned in two of the best seasons of his career, making it to the Pro Bowl in each season while helping to lead some quality defenses under then-defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.
Free to sign wherever he'd like, Lawrence opted to take his talents to the Pacific North West for the next chapter of his career, joining fellow NFC East castoff Leonard Williams in defensive guru Mike Macdonald's impressive scheme.
And as for the Cowboys? Well, they've traded for two former high-round picks in the wake of Lawrence's exit, adding former first-round cornerback Kaiir Elam from the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers draftee Kenneth Murray in a deal with the Tennessee Titans for another pick swap. Will this strategy work? Only time will tell, but it will certainly feel unusual to see Lawrence in any uniform other than the Cowboys' blue and whites, even if a parting of the ways was widely expected this offseason.
