New look, new goal.
DeMarcus Lawrence is sporting a more closely-cropped hairstyle than Cowboys fans had gotten used to seeing. Gone are the defensive end’s long dreadlocks… and with them, he says, went a willingness to not be the team’s reigning sackmaster.
“Become the sack leader again,” the eight-year veteran told reporters this week when asked about his mentality heading into the season. “I let a rookie show me up last year- shout-out to my boy Micah [Parsons].”
After missing 10 games due to injury, Lawrence logged three sacks in 2021, good for just fifth place on a surprisingly-resurgent defense under coordinator Dan Quinn. Matching or beating the 13 sacks registered by Parsons might be a tall order, but the Boise State product sounds eager to get himself back at the top of the pack when it comes to putting opposing quarterbacks on the ground.
From 2017 to 2020, Lawrence ended each season in either first or second place on the team in sacks. Three of those years, he led the Cowboys. And in two of them, he notched a double-digit total. (He also led the team in 2015.)
Now with a full year of Quinn’s system under the defense’s collective belt, Lawrence believes the unit can be even better.
DeMarcus Lawrence on his mentality this season: “Become the sack leader again. I let a rookie show me up last year. Shot out to my boy Micah. Restate my dominance. Let everybody know how I’m coming, how I feel and the type of respect I’m going to demand when I step on the field.” pic.twitter.com/2U16jvEOoo
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) May 25, 2022
“Being able to have a defense that you’re familiar with,” Lawrence explained, “it makes us, the bond more connected. For us to come in here, understand each other’s job and position, it makes our job a little easier so we’re not starting at the bottom again. We’re continuing to try to grow.”
But the former second-round draft pick decided his personal growth included lopping off his signature locks up top.
“Yeah, I had my fun with my dreads. I started growing them when I entered the NFL, and they grew so fast on me, they got heavy,” he said. “I turned 30 this year, so I’m like, ‘It’s time for me to make a grown-man change.’ And I chopped them off.”
But a new ‘do wasn’t the only offseason change Lawrence made. He restructured his contract with the Cowboys in March, spreading the $40 million owed to him across three years, all now fully guaranteed.
Some of that financial shuffling was with an eye toward retaining fellow defensive end Randy Gregory. That deal fell through, perhaps putting more pressure on Lawrence to put up big numbers.
He’ll have help, but much of it will come from new faces; Dante Fowler was signed in free agency just days after Lawrence’s new deal was announced, Sam Williams was drafted out of Ole Miss in the second round, and Chauncey Golston is just a second-year man. Dorance Armstrong, Carlos Watkins, and Tarell Basham all bring solid experience if not eye-popping stats.
Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, then, Lawrence amped up his winter and spring conditioning regimen to prep for his ninth season as the leader of the Dallas defensive line.
“I feel like I’m in better shape,” he added. “I feel like this offseason has been one of the most serious ones for me, just all about really just being healthy and taking care of the body and doing rigorous trainings and stuff and different workouts.”
New workouts. A rejuvenated body. A fresh cut.
Micah Parsons may be the Cowboys’ Simba, the young lion king-in-waiting.
But Mufasa isn’t going anywhere just yet.
“Restate my dominance,” said Lawrence of his plan for 2022. “Let everybody know that I’m coming, how I feel, and the type of respect I’m going to demand when I step on that field.”
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