Tom Pelissero said on the NFL Network on Tuesday that “DeMarcus Lawrence is the Le’Veon Bell of this offseason,” meaning he already told the Cowboys he wasn’t going to sign the franchise tag again in 2019 after agreeing in 2018.
TJ Carpenter discussed what this means on the TJ Carpenter Show on FANTOM. The Cowboys have two weeks (March 5th) to reach a long-term deal with DeMarcus, otherwise they could be headed for a Bell-type situation.
It doesn’t make any sense for the Cowboys to hit Lawrence with a franchise tag both fiscally, nor does it make any sense in terms of how he’s viewed. The Cowboys need to be sold on DeMarcus Lawrence because he’s one of the premier defensive players in the NFL. The Dallas Cowboys wanted Lawrence to prove it with the franchise tag in 2018, but if they mess around, they could make Lawrence unhappy and lose the best individual defensive player they’ve had since DeMarcus Ware.
There are three premium positions teams pay for in the NFL: QB, Rushing the QB and Protecting the QB. The Cowboys have to pay Dak eventually, but they have an immediate need to pay the guy that rushes the QB and that’s DeMarcus Lawrence.
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