Last night, the Cowboys and star defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence agreed to a lucrative five-year contract extension. The deal is expected to be worth around $105MM ($65MM guaranteed), with others noting that the pass-rusher will definitely earn more than $20MM annually.
Now that the pass-rusher has inked his new contract, he’s set to go under the knife. Albert Breer of TheMMQB reports (via Twitter) that Lawrence will finally undergo shoulder surgery. The procedure is expected to take place next week.
Lawrence has been dealing with a torn labrum for the better part of two years, and recovery time is expected to take three to four months. As a result, the defender will likely be sidelined until training camp.
Let’s check out some more notes pertaining to Lawrence’s new contract…
- Lawrence also received a $25MM signing bonus, reports David Moore of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter). This probably helped to make up some of the discrepancy between the final contract and Lawrence’s asking price, as the lineman was reportedly seeking a contract that would pay him around $22.5MM per year. As Jon Machota of the Dallas News tweets, Lawrence will ultimately earn $31.1MM in the first year of the deal. For comparison’s sake, Khalil Mack earned $31MM last season.
- According to ESPN’s Todd Archer, the two sides made major strides on Thursday evening. Executive vice president Stephen Jones talked with Lawrence on the phone, and the two parties talked through any monetary issues. Less than 24 hours later, the two sides agreed to a deal.
- NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport says the Lawrence contract is good news for Texans star Jadeveon Clowney and Seahawks standout Frank Clark (Twitter link). The reporter believes the two players now have parameters set for any future extensions, noting that the franchised pass-rushers could also expect to receive $20MM annually.
I’m not sure why the players complain about getting ripped off in the last rounds of negations. The way I see it, the cap rises 10%+ annually and over the course of the past 5-6 years, all positions salaries have say rocketed. Philosophy wise, I dislike Goodell. He’s too inconsistent. But financially speaking, he’s made everyone a lot of coin.
Tell that to the guys who are very good players nothing wrong with them physically but because there’s no more guaranteed money even though they have years left on their contracts they get cut.
Those contracts have been around a lot longer than Goodell. Why don’t you tell the players to sign 2-3 year deals rather than 5 year deals knowing they’ll get cut. The problem are the agents. They get new contracts every offseason with their volume of players. So they insist on longer deals. That is the root of the ‘problem’. No different than this deal 3 years guaranteed, 2 aren’t. Why sign on the extra 2 years?
In the next a post, a 4th round pick earned $5m over 5 years. Pretty good money. I’d take it.