SAN JOSE, Calif. — At the Dallas Cowboys’ headquarters in 2014, a rookie second-rounder and a coaching intern learned from defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.
The rookie would become a five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher in the decade that followed. The coaching intern, who grew up in the United Kingdom, where American football is far from king, would become a defensive line coach on his way to coordinating the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl LX defense.
Advertisement
But as player and coach continued their careers focused on the defensive front, they always thought back to those early lessons from Marinelli and his lessons on something other than the sacks that earn edge rushers money and coaches promotions.
DeMarcus Lawrence and Aden Durde learned from Marinelli the importance of defending the run.
“He taught me early that in order to rush the quarterback, [I’ve got to] stop the run on the way to the quarterback,” Lawrence said Wednesday. “So that’s really about your approach angles and how you set the edge. And through that, you can play play action, you can stop the run. I mean, if you get up the field and set the edge, you can use the offensive tackle and make him run into the running back and make a tackle like that. So it’s really just getting upfield, setting the edge, getting that pressure.
“And if it’s play action or pass, take your move.”
Advertisement
In theory, of course, the principle is not novel. Defending the run helps counter an opponent’s ability to control the clock. Stopping the run can pressure offenses into one-dimensional passing situations that increase the chance of sacks or takeaways. No one’s advocating against stopping the run. But it’s an open secret across the NFL that many elite edge rushers become so intent on chasing the quarterback — also valuable! — that they sometimes lay off the pursuit of run stops and a broader vision. Sacks translate to record-setting contracts and All-Pro honors more directly than 2-yard tackles do.
Lawrence, at 33 years old and in his 12th pro season, never changed.
So when his Cowboys contract expired last season, the Seahawks targeted him. Their bet has paid dividends.
Advertisement
Lawrence ranked No. 1 among 115 edge rushers in defending the run, per Pro Football Focus. He’s helped the Seahawks to 14 regular-season wins and an NFC championship victory by doing the dirty work, and he’s collected takeaways while doing it.
After forcing three fumbles and collecting six sacks in 17 regular-season games, Lawrence has forced another three fumbles in two playoff games and added two more sacks to his tally.
He’s playing like the complete player the Seahawks bet on. And he could make the difference Sunday between Seattle and the 4.5-point underdog New England Patriots.
“When you see really good talents and really special players, that are paid a lot, give as much, if not more, effort to the run, it sticks out,” Patriots center Garrett Bradbury told Yahoo Sports. “And so I’ve got a lot of respect for him. I think our whole team does. And so it’s a good challenge for us.
Advertisement
“You can’t take any plays off.”
Lawrence left Cowboys for Seahawks because ‘my window of opportunity is closing’
Plenty will wonder why the Cowboys would let a player of Lawrence’s caliber walk.
It’s imprecise to suggest Dallas stopped believing in Lawrence’s ability. Rather, after Lawrence broke his foot last season at age 32, a Cowboys team retooling in some ways, and paying quarterback Dak Prescott $60 million in others, wasn’t interested in paying Lawrence top dollar. A Seahawks team that had ranked 11th defending the pass in 2024 and 16th defending the run saw Lawrence as a piece that could elevate the collective.
Advertisement
Seattle signed Lawrence to a three-year, $32.5 million deal with $18 million in guarantees. Like another Cowboys draftee named DeMarcus before him, Lawrence’s second team quickly arrived in the Super Bowl. DeMarcus Ware won Super Bowl 50 with the Broncos following the 2015 season, two years after playing his first nine years for the Cowboys. Coincidence?
After spending 11 years with the Cowboys, DeMarcus Lawrence reached his first Super Bowl in his first season with the Seahawks. (Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports)
Lawrence generated headlines last March — and they resurfaced recently — for saying Dallas is his home but “I know for sure I’m not going to win a Super Bowl there.” Backlash on social media followed, including from then-Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons (who was later traded to the Green Bay Packers in August). A dose of pettiness and the emotions of departing his 11-year home fueled Lawrence in part. Throughout his NFL career, Lawrence has not been afraid to throw shade or talk trash when he felt confident.
But now, on the doorstep of playing in Super Bowl LX, Lawrence explained his comments with more nuance.
Advertisement
“I [saw] Dallas was going through a transition letting go of some of their older players starting to try to rebuild, and I understood that but I also understood for me that my window of opportunity of playing football was closing,” Lawrence said Monday. “So that’s truly what I meant by that statement is, I won’t win in Dallas because my window of opportunity is closing. I only have a couple of years, three, four, how many ever the Lord blessed me with.
“But I know it wasn’t going to be in Dallas.”
If not for Lawrence, the Super Bowl opportunity may not have reached Seattle either.
Lawrence flashed even before the season with his red-zone intensity at joint practices with the Carolina Panthers, his coaches say, and in the season opener he recovered a blocked field goal as well as multiple tackles for loss on Christian McCaffrey.
Advertisement
He would return, not one, but two fumble recoveries for a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals on Nov. 9 and then put up a “vintage” Lawrence moment against the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 30. Again, Lawrence wasn’t focused on the passer alone. So Lawrence chased running back Aaron Jones from behind on third-and-14, punching the ball loose. Teammate Ty Okada recovered.
“Just plays like that where it’s just his understanding of where the ball goes, how he gets to the ball, and then how he tries to force a fumble every time he touches the player,” Durde said.
And when Seahawks QB Sam Darnold threw an interception in Carolina in December, Lawrence helped neutralize the loss by punching loose a ball from Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard the very next play. Six plays later, Seattle scored to take a 10-3 lead. Everyone could exhale from the interception.
“He’s a game changer, man,” defensive backs coach and defensive pass game coordinator Karl Scott told Yahoo Sports. “We joke around all the time. Like ‘That’s law, that’s the law,’ from his intuitive plays to he’s a ballhawk.
Advertisement
“He makes us better.”
On cusp of biggest stage, Lawrence eager to hold Lombardi — and his sixth child
With a chance to go to his first Super Bowl in 12 pro seasons, Lawrence elevated his play in the NFC championship against the Los Angeles Rams.
With 4:59 to play, facing fourth-and-4 from Seattle’s 6-yard line, the Rams were down four and thus went for it. Safety Julian Love had told Lawrence he had running back Kyren Williams. But Lawrence saw Williams flare out unusually quickly, and his instincts screamed at him not to leave Williams’ ability to catch a touchdown to chance.
“It was a funky look,” Lawrence said. “I had to use my ‘Law Logic’ to help.”
Advertisement
Lawrence thought back to what Marinelli taught him about how to read formations. He wasn’t worried about 37-year-old Matthew Stafford taking off. So he dropped in coverage, double-teaming Williams and denying Stafford his outlet.
The Seahawks held off to win.
Lawrence knows the work isn’t done but nonetheless can imagine himself hoisting a Lombardi Trophy. He thinks about what that moment would mean for himself, his wife and their five children.
“Just having it in my arms, I feel like it’ll be a huge relief for me,” Lawrence said. “I know it’ll definitely be a huge relief for my family, understanding how long I done been chasing this dream and now it’s here in front of my face.
Advertisement
“Can’t let it slip.”
He’ll control what he can control on the field. And he’ll hope for time with his wife Sasha’s pregnancy.
Sasha hit 37 weeks carrying their sixth child this week, and Lawrence is anxious not to miss the birth after his oldest son was born during Lawrence’s 2014 rookie minicamp with the Cowboys — and Lawrence was unable to fly back to Boise in time, so he FaceTimed in for the birth.
This time, the Lawrences weren’t leaving that to chance. Sasha is in the Bay Area for the game — as is her obstetrician, flown here by the Lawrences.
“We can be due any day now,” Lawrence says of her third trimester, but “hopefully not by Monday. Hopefully she can hold on to Thursday after the parade.”
Advertisement
Teammates joked with him that he could have another kid, but how likely was he to make another Super Bowl? Lawrence responded: “Man, bro. I miss my first son’s birth and I can’t miss my last.”
He hopes no such coordination is necessary, but the Lawrences have identified hospitals and emergency plans in case.
Until Sasha goes into labor, DeMarcus Lawrence will continue preparing for the big game. He’ll continue remembering the lessons Marinelli told him. And he’ll continue justifying a free-agent signing that head coach Mike Macdonald described this week as a “no-brainer.”
“And man, it’s paid incredible dividends,” Macdonald said. “I feel like DeMarcus would tell you this, but I feel like we’re getting his best version of himself and the best version of his game as well. So it’s been a win-win.”
