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Seattle Seahawks edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence.
The Dallas Cowboys didn’t want to pay edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence following the 2024 season. They didn’t want to pay edge rusher Micah Parsons, either.
When it came down to it, the Cowboys just decided to roll the dice at the most important position on defense in 2025 and paid the price, finishing 7-9-1 and missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season while having the NFL’s 30th ranked defense.
Parsons, traded to the Green Bay Packers, was an NFL All-Pro again in 2025 with 12.5 sacks and became the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history.
Lawrence, who signed a 3-year, $32.5 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks in March 2025, is now a Super Bowl champion in his first season with the franchise after spending the first 11 seasons of his career with the Cowboys.
Not only did Lawrence, a former NFL All-Pro, win a Super Bowl with the Seahawks, he also earned his 4th Pro Bowl nod in 2025.
The Super Bowl win also brought to light an old quote from Lawrence from the day he signed with the Seahawks.
“Dallas is my home,” Lawrence told Seahawks reporter Doxx in March 2025. “But I know for sure I’m not gonna win a Super Bowl there.”
To be fair, Lawrence had 11 seasons to win a Super Bowl in Dallas and didn’t deliver — despite signing a 5-year, $105 million contract extension before the 2019 season and cashing out $132 million in career earnings in his time with the Cowboys.
Lawrence Ended Time With Cowboys On IR
While Lawrence was a 3-time Pro Bowler with the Cowboys — including in 2022 and 2023 — he ended his time in Dallas by going on injured reserve and missing the final 13 games of the regular season.
“For 11 seasons, the Dallas Cowboys knew that pass-rusher DeMarcus Lawrence would be a staple of their defensive front, a four-time Pro Bowl end who had collected 61.5 sacks in 141 games with the team,” Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney wrote on January 26. “But at age 32 in the 2024 season, Lawrence suffered a fractured bone in his foot and was limited to (4) games as part of an injury-addled season for the Cowboys as a whole that resulted in 7 wins.”
Despite the injury, Lawrence lasted less than 3 days an unrestricted free agent before cashing out with his big payday with the Seahawks — and his damning quote.
Beef With Parsons Following Exit to Seattle
Some of the Cowboys took exception to Lawrence’s words about never being able to win a Super Bowl with the Cowboys — Parsons called the quote by Lawrence “Clown (Expletive).”
“Calling me a clown won’t change the fact that I told the truth,” Lawrence wrote. “Maybe if you spent less time tweeting and more time winning, I wouldn’t have left.”
Interestingly enough, the Packers were considered legitimate NFC contenders until Parsons tore his ACL in Week 14. Without Parsons, Green Bay lost the final 4 games of the regular season and lost to their NFC North Division rival Chicago Bears in the NFC Wild Card Round.
The Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl — or even played in the NFC Championship Game — since following the 1995 season.
Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame
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