Lawrence spent his first 11 seasons on the Cowboys, making it to four Pro Bowls and six postseasons, but never reigning over the league by season’s end.
In his first foray with Seattle, his fifth all-star season, Lawrence played a pivotal role in winning it all. He logged six sacks — his second-highest total this decade — with 53 tackles, 20 QB hits, three fumbles forced and three fumble recoveries, two of which he remarkably returned for scores. Lawrence forced another three fumbles and had an additional pair of sacks during the Seahawks’ run to a Lombardi Trophy.
After taking time to ponder his next steps, Lawrence is fully bought in to helping Seattle repeat, but it won’t be easy.
Even just looking at the NFC West, Seattle’s opponents pulled out all the stops to even the playing field. The Rams transformed their defense, trading for the new single-season sack king, Myles Garrett, and cornerback Trent McDuffie. Speculation that Aaron Donald might come out of retirement to rejoin Los Angeles has only grown. The 49ers signed six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans and brought back players who originally became stars with San Francisco, Deebo Samuel and Dre Greenlaw.
Such big swings made the division harder to predict, but offseason champs don’t receive any trophies. The Seahawks are the only team to receive Super Bowl rings in the past couple months.
Their rivals know it, and they’re on a mission to prevent Seattle from doing it again. That’s all part of the draw for Lawrence.
“They say it’s no fun when the rabbit has the gun,” he said. “We’re the ones with the dot on our back. So I just want to see how that feels. See the different obstacles that we can overcome. How are we going to stay together in those tough moments throughout the season and just be a part of this brotherhood once more.”