'Decade in D-Town!' Lawrence Still the Heart of Cowboys D

What a decade it’s been.

Lawrence’s career started slow after fracturing his right foot during training camp. He wouldn’t debut until Week 9 of that season and didn’t register a sack. After just a single sack through the first eight weeks of his second season – and 15 games of his career – the critics were out and about. Yet, patience won out, and Lawrence taught the league a lesson in defensive line development.

He would finish his second season with eight sacks, only to miss much of 2016 with a suspension and a back injury. He would spend the next seven seasons proving his doubters wrong.

In 2017, he broke out for a 14.5-sack season and finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting. He was named a Second-Team All-Pro and made the first of his three Pro Bowls. He’d return to the all-star exhibition the next year with an additional 10.5 sacks to his name.

Since making himself known as one of the league’s most feared pass rushers, Lawrence has been even more of a force against the run. While his sacks have fluctuated – hardly an indictment of his pass-rushing ability – his run defense has remained consistently among the best in the sport.

That continued this season. Per Pro Football Focus, Las Vegas Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby was the only qualified player at his position with a higher run defense grade than Lawrence’s 92.2. It’s the second time he’s earned over a 90, considered elite, and the seventh time in the last eight seasons he earned a 75, entrenching himself as above-average.

This season, no qualified edge rusher saw a higher rate of their tackles result in a stop – or failure for the offense, per PFF. He was also easily Dallas’ best run-stuffing defensive lineman and PFF’s second-highest graded defender.

Perhaps no play epitomized his impact like his fourth-down disruption against the Seattle Seahawks to win the game. It didn’t go down in the box score, but he blew up the play and was an unsung hero of a victory for America’s Team, like so many times before.

He's got one more big year on his big contract at about $20 million ... and at age 31, shows no sign of slowing down.

In all, Lawrence is one of the most storied defensive linemen in Cowboys history. He ranks 12th in sacks (58.5), second in tackles for loss (93), and second in quarterback hits (121).

As long as he stays healthy, Lawrence should continue to be the Dallas defender that best encapsulates what it means to get one’s hands dirty and play physical football. A decade into his Cowboys tenure, he’s still one of the best to ever wear the star.