With two days to go until the franchise-tag deadline, the Cowboys have not made any progress on a DeMarcus Lawrence deal. Calvin Watkins of The Athletic tweets that the two sides are not close to finalizing a long-term deal. Clarence Hill Jr. of the Star Telegram echoes that sentiment, noting that a deal isn’t expected by the March 5th deadline “barring [an] unexpected miracle offer.”
Unless the Cowboys are willing to risk Lawrence reaching unrestricted free agency, the team’s only logical course is to slap the defensive end with the franchise tag. As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com points out, this may be Lawrence’s preferred route. After being tagged in 2018, Lawrence would earn $20.56MM if he was tagged for a second-straight season. His franchise number in 2020 would balloon to $29.6MM, meaning Lawrence would technically be eyeing $50MM over the next two years.
Ultimately, Florio opines that the Pro Bowler could be seeking a deal that pays him close to that amount of money through the first two years of the contract. If he doesn’t sign a deal, he’ll either earn a lucrative franchise tag in 2020 or he’ll finally hit unrestricted free agency. Lawrence could also follow Le’Veon Bell and sit out the entire 2019 campaign, although that probably wouldn’t increase his worth.
Further complicating matters is Lawrence’s impending shoulder surgery. Florio writes that the 26-year-old refuses to have the operation until he’s inked a long-term deal. This could merely be leverage by Lawrence’s camp to get a deal completed before the July 15 deadline, but it complicates matters nonetheless.
In 2017, Lawrence compiled 14.5 sacks, 58 total tackles, and four forced fumbles. Instead of doing a long-term deal last year, the Cowboys asked him to prove himself once more. He answered with 10.5 sacks, 39 quarterback pressures, and a second consecutive Pro Bowl nod.
I’ve always been in favor of the Franchise tag on the side of the team but lately I’m seeing the players side of it more. If your franchised two years in a row, you should automatically become an unrestricted free agent after year two.
Hardly anyone will ever see the chance for 3 franchise tags because players become far too expensive with that route. Brees didn’t. Bell won’t. Cousins didn’t. Peyton never did. Reggie White and LT in their primes would have been two of the only guys who would have realistically faced this dilemma.
I personally think a player shouldn’t be able to get tagged 2 years in a row. A year is plenty of time to get a multi year deal done. If you can’t get a deal done then trade them or ride it out. Like this situation it’s ridiculous been about a year and not even close to a deal
Fault the players for that. They signed that agreement in the CBA. The tag has been around since sometime in the 90’s. Clearly the players like having the tag option available.
And I totally expect it to be addressed in the next CBA talks. Clearly they do? There’s been a lot of talk about players not wanting to be tagged/not signing it the past couple offseasons. There’s still no reason for a player to get tagged twice.
They’ve had a few CBA’s to address it. It came about in 1993 according to SI. The fact is the players do like the tag. Never once has all 32 tags been used in an offseason & those tagged, raise the value of their positions.
Do you really think Zeke & Gurley (for example) are mad that Bell’s tag raised the salaries of RB’s by millions?
Zeke is gonna be really mad if he gets tagged which I think is extremely likely. RBs don’t have very many years to cash in Big and cowboys can keep delaying his payday via 5th year option and FT
D-Law is a beast but I’m leery of a long term deal. I don’t think he’s worth 20+million AAV but he knows he has the upper hand in his situation.
Agree. 17-18M a year is reasonable, but he’s nowhere close to Aaron Donald and shouldn’t expect to get paid comparable either.
The Amari Cooper trade will ultimately cost the Cowboys a first AND a star player they won’t be able to fit under the cap. The trade won’t look so good then.
The cowboys literally had $60 million in cap space before tagging Lawrence assuming they cut Lee and Hurns. This is nonsense.