The Dallas Cowboys locked up defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence by using the franchise tag on Monday, which guarantees the pass rusher won’t hit free agency during the 2018 offseason.
Why the Cowboys gave DeMarcus Lawrence the franchise tag
The Cowboys have searched hard for DeMarcus Ware’s replacement and couldn’t afford to let DeMarcus Lawrence walk after a breakout year.
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
It wasn’t unexpected. David Moore of the Dallas Morning News reported earlier that the Cowboys planned to give Lawrence the franchise tag, with the intent of working out a long-term deal with him before the July 16 deadline. But team vice president Stephen Jones said that the ultimate goal was to lock Lawrence up long-term.
“We won’t let D-Law not be a Dallas Cowboy next year,” Jones said, via the team’s website. “We’ll do everything we can to try to make something work, and if we don’t get it done then we’ll franchise him. Then we’ll go back to work.”
Lawrence signed his tag on Thursday, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Now the two sides will try to come together to make sure Lawrence sticks around beyond 2018.
Lawrence gave the Cowboys a much-needed pass-rushing presence
Lawrence, 25, had nine sacks in the first three seasons of his NFL career before breaking out with 14.5 sacks during a Pro Bowl year in 2017. Only Arizona Cardinals pass rusher Chandler Jones finished with more sacks by racking up 17.
It was the first double-digit sack season for the Cowboys in four years and the fourth-best total in franchise history behind 20-, 19.5-, and 15.5-sack seasons put up by DeMarcus Ware.
Lawrence will earn more than $17 million in 2018 if he plays under the tag. But the Cowboys will have a little more than four months to agree to a multi-year deal with the defensive end.
The hunt for DeMarcus Ware’s replacement wasn’t easy
After Ware left to join the Denver Broncos in 2014, the Cowboys drafted Lawrence in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. They followed that pick with Randy Gregory in the second round in 2015 and Taco Charlton in the first round in 2017.
The Cowboys also signed free agents like Greg Hardy and Jeremy Mincey to add to the pass rush.
The book is still out on Charlton, but even after Lawrence’s emergence, the Cowboys finished 15th in the NFL in sacks and will need to continue to search for more help on the defensive line.
Lawrence is the only one of the Cowboys’ recent additions who has developed into the pass rusher the team need. Losing him wasn’t an option.
A multi-year deal is probably coming soon
Dallas wants a long-term deal in place with Lawrence.
“Our first goal is to sign him to a long-term deal, obviously,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said at the Senior Bowl, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “To me, the only reason you use a franchise tag is to hopefully protect yourself if you can’t get a long-term deal signed that you like. That’s normally the route we like to go.
“Certainly, we’re going to roll up our sleeves and see if we can do something with DeMarcus without having a franchise tag.”
That did not come to fruition, but it doesn’t mean a multi-year deal won’t be in place soon. For now, the Cowboys did what was necessary to make sure one of the best pass rushers in the NFL stayed in Dallas at least for one more year and likely more.
Either way, he’s happy about the money.
Soon after, the salary cap was set at $177.2 million, which was close. Lawrence is set to make $17.143 million under the tag.
Then, followed it up with this:
It only took Lawrence a few hours to sign the tender:
If the Cowboys manage to get a long-term deal done with Lawrence, you could imagine he’d be even more pleased.
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