For 11 seasons, DeMarcus Lawrence was a mainstay on the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive line. He played a key role as a leader in the locker room.
His time in Dallas ended in 2025. Now, he’s playing for the Lombardi Trophy as a member of the Seattle Seahawks.
Here are 10 things to know about the former Cowboys defensive end playing in Super Bowl LX:
1. Tank
Cowboys
How’d he get the nickname? Here’s what he said during a Q&A on the Dallas Cowboys’ website in 2015.
“It originated when I was very young playing outside on the basketball court. One of my friends and I were play fighting and he DDT’d me on my head, so ever since then he would say ‘I tanked him on his head, I tanked him.’ So ever since then, people have been calling me Tank.”
“It’s a childhood nickname. I got it growing up playing little league … just running over people as a fullback in my days,” he said. “It transpired to me growing up and going to high school.
“I have this little funny story. My coach, I had a bad game, and he was telling everybody, ‘I don’t want to hear you call him Tank. I don’t want to hear you call him Diesel. He can’t play football.’ That inspired me. I have to live up to my nickname. So I’m the Tank.”
A DDT is a professional wrestling move that looks something like the GIF below.
2. His exit from Dallas was… interesting
Lawrence’s time with the Cowboys ended in 2025. He joined the Seattle Seahawks as a free agent after 11 seasons in Dallas. His exit generated a lot of buzz when he told a Seahawks reporter that he knew “for sure” he wouldn’t win a Super Bowl with the Cowboys.
That comment incited a response from then-Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons.
“This what rejection and envy look like!” Parsons wrote on social media about Lawrence.
Lawrence further responded: “Calling me a clown won’t change the fact that I told the truth. Maybe if you spent less time tweeting and more time winning, I wouldn’t have left.”
3. He’s Super Bowl-bound
It didn’t take long for Lawrence to make an impact in Seattle. He started 16 games for the Seahawks in the 2025 regular season, posting 53 tackles, six sacks and three forced fumbles. He returned two of those fumbles for touchdowns.
Lawrence was a key part of Seattle’s No. 1-ranked defense. With the veteran defensive end on their roster, the Seahawks powered through the postseason as the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
Now, Lawrence and the Seahawks are one win away from a Super Bowl title.
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4. Made an impact in the D-FW community
Lawrence participated in numerous charitable events throughout his time in Dallas. In 2024, the Cowboys nominated the veteran defensive end for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award.
While discussing how proud he was of being nominated for the honor, Lawrence credited his dad for setting the example in taking care of others.
“I really pride myself on my integrity,” Lawrence said. “Just doing the right thing when nobody is looking. I preach that to my family each and every day. That’s just the standard I want to live by. Definitely going to keep doing what I’m doing. It doesn’t matter who’s watching. Just me as a person.”
5. He’s a top 100 Cowboys player of all-time
In 2025, The Dallas Morning News ranked the Cowboys’ top 100 players in franchise history. Lawrence ended up on the list at No. 69.
From 2014-24, he posted 61 1/2 sacks as a Cowboy.
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6. Had some good times and bad times at Boise State
Before the Cowboys drafted him in 2014, Lawrence attended Boise State. He accumulated a pretty impressive stat line as a Bronco.
In two seasons (23 total games), he finished with 120 total tackles, 20 sacks and seven forced fumbles. He also had 34 tackles for a loss.
Now for the not-so-good parts.
Lawrence was suspended for one game three separate times while at Boise State. One suspension led to him missing the Las Vegas Bowl against Washington and another included a regular-season home game against UNLV.
During the draft process, his behavior was brought up by Cowboys officials.
“They just asked me if I put the BS and the suspensions behind me; my childish behaviors,” Lawrence told SportsDay’s Brandon George. “I let all the teams know that I put my childish behaviors behind me and I’ve moved on and it’s time for me to become a Cowboy. It’s time for me to grow up and do my duties and play football.”
Garrett called him the “right kind of guy we want to bring to this football team.”
7. He talks trash, according to an ex-Eagles player
Ex-Eagles running back Miles Sanders, now with the Cowboys, was asked about trash talkers before Super Bowl LVII. He was trying to think of players with the best banter and landed on Lawrence.
“He’s a very angry guy on the field,” Sanders said in the video posted by FOX Sports. “I just be wanting to give him a hug on the field. But yeah, he’s pretty angry on the field. He lets me know it, too.”
Sanders played for the Cowboys in 2025, meaning he and Lawrence just missed the chance to team up.
8. Short-yardage butcher
When he was in Dallas, Lawrence was known for his ability to disrupt the run game. Late in the 2023 season, former Dallas Morning News writer Michael Gehlken described Lawrence as the team’s “butcher in goal-line and other short-yardage situations.”
“He’s done it like that forever,” ex-Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “I know competing against D-Law, and he’s still doing it at such a high level. I think when you play defensive end in this league, the first thing people talk about is how many sacks or pressures you have. When I see Michael Strahan, I say, ‘Here is a guy who broke a lot of records and sacks, but he played the run as good or better.’ D-Law is that same kind of player.
“I think that speaks volumes about him as a football player. Obviously, he can pass rush and has pressures and sacks and has excellent numbers. But when they bring up how good you play the run, I think that’s a huge compliment.”
9. He had Jerry Jones “frothing at the mouth”
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talks to the media during a press conference about the Omni Frisco Hotel at The Star in Frisco as Frisco Mayor Maher Maso listens, on Tuesday, November 3, 2015. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News)
Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer
Lawrence had some injury issues after getting drafted and wasn’t able to make his season debut until Week 9 of the 2014 season against the Arizona Cardinals.
The Cowboys were in desperate need of some sacks from their defensive line. And Jerry Jones was really optimistic about adding Lawrence to the mix.
“Lawrence had everybody frothing at the mouth a little bit out there last week,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM] at the time. “He has really improved his body during this time off. He’s used it to really have a lot of strength work. It’s something that he didn’t do as much [in college] as he’s doing now. He’s had quite a physical improvement.”
10. Favorite NFL player growing up
From a previous Cowboys Q&A:
“Ray Lewis because of his intensity, his demeanor, his swagger. He had all the tools.”
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