Drafted by Cowboys No. 23 pick - UCF Pass Rusher Malachi Lawrence

[jblaze2004]

The dude hustles. His motor is wild. He is a good pass rusher with a lot of moves in his bag. Needs to work on is run game work though. I think we did alright. Welcome to Dallas. He might get more sacks this year than Eze did his rookie season.

 

[jblaze2004]

Thats good to hear. My issue is that there was no talk about this guy in round 1 leading up to the draft. He was a day 2 pick that people really started to notice when the pads went off and and workout shorts went on. I think if we had passed, he was dropping to mid round 2. So, poor draft value at 23. We should have taken a CB.

Pick 20+ in the first round are basically 2nd round talent. There were only 11-12 true first round talent in this draft. They didn't want to miss out on their guy.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

Just remember people questioned Ezeiruaku's ability against the run and his stops in the backfield were some of the most impressive aspects of his rookie season.

Once both Lawrence and EZ fully develop the Cowboys will be set at edge rusher for a very long time (hopefully).

 

[DuncanIso]

Score Breakdown​

Score Breakdown

Production Score​

69
2026 Combine DE/EDGE Rank: 19th

Athleticism Score *est​

88
2026 Combine DE/EDGE Rank: 2nd

Total Score​

74
2026 Combine DE/EDGE Rank: 10th

 

[DuncanIso]

Malachi Lawrence
EDGE

6'4"253 lbsUCF
9 POS RNK
54 OVR RNK
82 GRADE

 

[DuncanIso]

Just remember people questioned Ezeiruaku's ability against the run and his stops in the backfield were some of the most impressive aspects of his rookie season.

Once both Lawrence and EZ fully develop the Cowboys will be set at edge rusher for a very long time (hopefully).

Eze

• ESPN NFL All-Rookie Second Team (2025)
• Ted Hendricks Award (2024)
• Consensus All-American (2024)
• ACC Defensive Player of the Year(2024)
• First-team All-ACC (2024)

Law

• First-team All-Big 12 (2025)

 

[CT Dal Fan]

Right now I think Lawrence can be a more explosive, higher upside version of Dorance Armstrong. I mean this in a complimentary way.

 

[Jarntt]

Don't know much about this guy but he sounds like he has a lot of upside... To me his floor is Dorrance Armstrong and I know people don't get excited about that but that guy was quietly a very good NFL player... I'm not sure who is comp would be for his upside but he's got a lot of it.. Oh he just has to go out and prove it..

In Lawrence, the Cowboys are getting a ridiculous athlete who earned a Relative Athletic Score of 9.94 (out of 10), finishing above the 97th percentile in explosiveness grades and in the 99th percentile in edge rusher speed.

• First-team All Big 12 (2025)
• Finished No. 10 on UCF's all-time sack (20 sacks)
• Honorable mention for Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year

I like the pick, but he is nothing like Dorance Armstrong. Kind of the complete opposite

 

[Jarntt]

Despite some of the touted ends in this draft, Lawrence looks to be an all-around good player even if he isn't "elite" at a single thing. Great run stopper and potential to be a 9-10 sack guy.

I don't hate the pick, but you still hope for elite talent late in the first.

If he was a "great run stopper" he goes top 10

 

[Jarntt]

Better Lawrence pass rusher? Malachi Lawrence or Lawrence Taylor

Right now, you gotta say LT. By December...could go either way...

 

[CT Dal Fan]

I like the pick, but he is nothing like Dorance Armstrong. Kind of the complete opposite

Similar frames coming out of college and similar pass rush production (though Armstrong was a marked man his last year at Kansas and only had two sacks).

Right now Lawrence is a little heavier and more polished than Armstrong was coming into the draft so his developmental time should be faster. It took a couple years for Armstrong to produce.

 

[Jarntt]

I don't understand why the Cowboys didn't just ask some of the scouts on here whether or not they should have taken Lawrence. We could have printed them off those ESPN rankings that would have saved us a lot of embarrassment. I mean sure his actual college coach was in the Cowboys War Room and our scouts have watched hundreds of hours of tape of every single prospect, but a couple people on here read some mocks...

 

[stilltheguru]

I don't understand why the Cowboys didn't just ask some of the scouts on here whether or not they should have taken Lawrence. We could have printed them off those ESPN rankings that would have saved us a lot of embarrassment. I mean sure his actual college coach was in the Cowboys War Room and our scouts have watched hundreds of hours of tape of every single prospect, but a couple people on here read some mocks...

This website respects internet personalities more than former players, former coaches, current scouts. I've said this plenty of times. Slaves to the internet consensus board. That's how opinions are formed

 

[IAmLegend]

 

[Jarntt]

ESPN had him at #49

The Sporting News had him at #53

CBS Sports had him at #52

PFF had him at #54.

I will agree with the idea that actual NFL executives and scouts will know more about draft evaluation than any so-called export or analyst in the media.

However,

Their opinions seem pretty freakin' consistent.

Lawrence was a mid-2nd round value. Jerry's arms suddenly grew to the length of a prototypical EDGE.

This was a reach. A terrible one.

Nothing against Lawrence, nor having him on the team.

I'm just saying he wasn't even close to the 23th best player in that draft. Jerry Jones threw away value that was equal to a 2nd round pick according to any draft value chart.

Because they copy each other. Has no one noticed that mocks and big boards just copy other mocks and big boards? It's opinions based on other people's opinions. Has it never struck people how eerily similar they all rank some random late round LG from a small school out west that none of them ever even watched play?

Now let's focus on scheme fit. You think these sites are ranking players based on how they fit into our specific scheme? If they rank a guy 50 and in that 50 there are 20 DTs/OGs/QBs/Safeties and after Downs we decided all of those were off our board and we aren't taking that position he just moved up to 30. Now if we decided we were going edge rusher at 23 he's top 1 to 3 of what's left on everyone's board. The differences between players are so subtle. When Tom Brady's stop getting drafted in the 6th round come talk about reaches and experts. It's a crap shoot. You pay your scouts to watch tape and decide who fits your team best based on what you need and want to do on defense. Those sites are no better than people on here or who you sit next to at a bar. The way Lawrence was flying up draft boards I bet if the draft were held a week later, they'd all have adjusted and copied and moved him into the first round. He was probably the most, or at least close to the most, mocked guy to us at 20 by draft day.

 

[Jarntt]

I don't like the way he got caught up in the traffic and got stuck to that block and couldn't fight his way through the hole there. Maybe he is a bust

 

[CT Dal Fan]

I don't understand why the Cowboys didn't just ask some of the scouts on here whether or not they should have taken Lawrence. We could have printed them off those ESPN rankings that would have saved us a lot of embarrassment. I mean sure his actual college coach was in the Cowboys War Room and our scouts have watched hundreds of hours of tape of every single prospect, but a couple people on here read some mocks...

I really want to know how many people here bashing the Lawrence pick watched Central Florida at all the past few years.

Like you said, I trust the scouts and the coaches more than people who cry "bust" because they see a name they don't recognize from ESPN.

 

[Captain-Crash]

 

[Aven8]

I just read his 40 was 4.52 and vertical 40”, with broad jump of 10’10”.

 

[cowboys5xsbs]