Demarcus Lawrence's rookie sack total

[Avery]

5, but the amount of playing time will be paramount to his total for obvious reasons.

 

[DFWJC]

8 sacks

Though they have stated they are desperate to have two players in rush situations that could possibly require a double team. We know Melton is one...they think Clowney, Barr, and Lawrence were the three in this draft at DE.

 

[Alexander]

Sounds like some of you do not have faith in Marinelli. For shame.

 

[JD_KaPow]

Obviously, a lot depends on how quickly we throw him into the fire. Put me down for 4 sacks.

For what it's worth, Football Outsiders has a toy they've developed called Sackseer that projects pass rushers coming out of college. It despises Lawrence. Again, for what it's worth.

(Edited to bump the number up to 4 after a bit more research)

 

[bb721]

So then why dump $100 Mill on a declining QB?

31 td's and only 10 int's. So tell me exactly what part of his game is declining?

 

[birdwells1]

All excellent points but we've been in rebuilding mode since Garrett took over.

Imo we've just started to think in the rebuilding mode, before JJ would have tried to resign Hatcher and Ware because the are/were good player and he operated out of fear of the unknown. When you finally come to the realization that this team can't honestly compete for a super bowl this year then you don't care if those player walk or not because when you start to really compete again they wont be there anyways. Personally I think if Romo was a fa this off season he may not have been a Cowboy unless he took below market money. Witten is a probable HoFer and great in the community so it's hard to part ways with him.

 

[conner01]

i'm going with 7 sacks. i also think the size thing is a bit over rated. he does need to get stronger but his weight is the same as ware when he came out. he does'nt seem to have the frame to be in the 270's but if he can get in the mid 260's and add strength he will be fine. we are'nt putting one de out there all game. we are gonna play multiple people there and atleast for this year he will play mostly as an edge rusher.

 

[Fritsch_the_cat]

I dunno, for some reason when I saw tape of this kid I thought Kavika Pittman. I'll reserve judgement until he gets a year or so in though, right now I'm ok with it.

 

[wileedog]

I think it will be on the low side his rookie year, because quite frankly unless Spencer makes a miraculous recovery there is really no on else on the line at this point worth worrying about. If Lawrence does come in and look like his projections early on then he is going to get doubled, and until he fills out he won't have the size or experience this year to beat double teams.

4 or 5 would be a massive success IMO.

 

[SportsGuru80]

8 or 9... The kid is explosive though!

 

[Crown Royal]

6 sacks would go a long way for me. I am worried about his ability to hold up as an every down player. He physically reminds me of Victor Butler, and I don't mean that as a complement.

I am having concerns that this is the new Ebenezer Ekuban. Which, by the way, is fine if you have a stacked and talented line. Or took him without giving up a ton.



The good thing for me is our scouting department is actually pretty good at identifying RD 1 talent, so maybe they feel that this guy is different. I hope they are right.

 

[Fletch]

I'm taking the temperature of the board here. What do you think is a realistic expectation for Lawrence this season in terms of what he does best, sack the quarterback?

I don't think he's an immediate starter. But that matters little to me. This is an investment for the future.

Would a half dozen sacks playing heavily in a rotation be an encouraging rookie year? Is he capable? I have my opinion (yes), what's yours?

I'm almost as excited about this kid as you are. The future seems pretty bright for Lawrence. He is very capable of six his rookie campaign. I'll say 6 1/2 sacks.

 

[Cowboy06]

So then why dump $100 Mill on a declining QB?

eventually we will take a major hit with Romo retiring or having to be cut. I hope he will be the last huge contract. Make the players earn it and even guilty when the get too much...I know that won't happen, but it would be fun to see a player asking to get money back because they don't deserve it...

 

[gimmesix]

I wouldn't get my hopes up too high.

Keep in mind, perhaps the best pass rusher in the NFL only had 6 sacks in 648 snaps in the same scheme.

If Lawrence had 6 in 600 snaps I'd be thrilled.

That being said, he's probably going to need some strengthening and will need to learn more technique when it comes to rushing the passer. That probably isn't going to happen (especially the getting stronger) until between his first and second seasons.

Oh, I won't be surprised if he only ends up with a couple and people start making Shante Carver comparisons. You never know with draft picks ... what you see isn't always what you get.

But I do believe this scheme is set up to maximize what is supposed to be his strength, so 10 sacks would not surprise me, either. I like that this scheme is user-friendly for young linemen like Lawrence.

 

[AKATheRake]

8

 

[dcstands4]

I don't think he gets on the field unless it's st

 

[Red Dragon]

I'd be surprised if he even gets to 6 sacks.

 

[AsthmaField]

That we traded way up for.. Players taken that early should be day one starters...

Personally, I view the guy as much of a starter at that WDE spot as we were going to draft this year.

There isn't going to be any one guy taking all of the snaps at any of the DL positions. Marinelli wants a healthy rotation at all four spots and guys like Mincey and Selvie are going to get plenty of snaps from the WDE position no matter who we drafted to go there. Clowney would have rotated there too, had we been able to get him. So really, worrying about what percentage of the snaps Lawrence is going to get is academic. What is important is what the rookie does with however many snaps he does get.

Let me put it this way: Lawrence will play as many snaps as Barr would have had we got him at 16. Both would come out on short yardage situations and any time Marinelli wanted to go big on the line. So saying Lawrence was taken too early not to be a starter doesn't really hold water. What's funny is that people (not necessarily you) would have been fine with Barr at the 16th pick, but Lawrence at the 34th pick needs to take all the snaps to make them happy.

And really, all of that isn't to say that DeMarcus is bad against the run. He isn't. Of all the WDE prospects in this year's draft, Lawrence was one of the better run defenders anyway.

Actually, the line is shaping up very nicely for what Marinelli wants to do there. Lawrence is likely going to be in a rotation with Selvie and Mincey on the right side, which is a good group for this defense. Bringing in a fresh Lawrence or Mincey is going to put quite a bit of pressure on the LT. Lawrence is more athletic than I think a lot of people realize. He has very good quickness and balance for his size and was just one of 4 guys (Lawrence, Clowney, Mack, Barr) in the top tier of prospects for that weakside end spot.

You would have liked to keep the 3rd round pick, but I absolutely am glad they used it to get Lawrence. Coming out of the draft with him was something that simply had to be done. Dallas absolutely had to come out of this draft with an edge rusher that can put a little fear in opponents. There wasn't anyone left after Lawrence and there is no doubt that he wouldn't have made it to #47.

Now, Dallas has that athletic WDE that Marinelli really needs to make his defense work. If Melton comes back right from his surgery, then Lawrence next to him is going to create sure enough problems for offenses. The rotation that Dallas will have all over the DL is going to be much better than what they were dealing with last year. Lawrence is going to be a big part of that too.

As for how many sacks I think he'll get... I will say the possible high number is going to be around 8, with 5 or 6 being more likely. However, that is just taking a stab at it. As long as Lawrence is disruptive in the opposing backfield, then Dallas will be getting what they paid for.

 

[CF74]

31 td's and only 10 int's. So tell me exactly what part of his game is declining?

Aside from stats he only had one really outstanding game and that was against Denver. I hate to say this over and over but watching the games and looking at stats are 2 totally different animals.. I'm hoping it was just his back and he's fine now but I haven't been impressed by him since 2009.

 

[Chuck 54]

I'm saying 10 sacks easily. I think he will start at RDE on day one unless Spencer is healthy and tears it up in camp---if that happens, he may move to Ware's side with Mincey on Left side.

Not only will Lawrence play a lot of DE (we didn't use a 2/3 on a project), but look for us to do what Boise State did---we will move him around in passing situations to get favorable match ups. He has the tools to rush from DE and sometimes line up at OLB and blitz as a 5th rusher who knows how to get there.

I think if healthy 10 sacks is very possible.