By Zach Powell, Jon Machota and Saad Yousuf
One day after agreeing to terms with the Seattle Seahawks, ex-Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence didn’t hold back his feelings about his former team.
In an interview Thursday with Brian Nemhauser of Hawk Blogger, Lawrence appeared to take a swipe at the Cowboys. After discussing the move to Seattle, Lawrence, who spent his first 11 NFL seasons in Dallas, said: “Dallas is my home. I made my home there, my family is there, and I’m forever gonna be there. But I know for sure I’m not going to win a Super Bowl there. So, yeah, we here.”
Lawrence’s remarks, which came after he completed his introductory news conference, attracted attention from his former teammates.
Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, who is coming off a solid rookie season, posted to X: “COWBOYS vs everybody.”
Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons fired back with more pointed words for the four-time Pro Bowler on X, writing: “This (is) what rejection and envy look like! This (is) some clown s—.”
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Lawrence and Parsons exchanged posts on X until Lawrence, determined to win the back-and-forth escalation, posted one final message: “Maybe if you spent less time tweeting and more time winning, I wouldn’t have left.”
Lawrence, 32, and the Seahawks agreed to terms on a three-year deal worth up to $42 million, with $18 million guaranteed, The Athletic confirmed Wednesday. Lawrence was the No. 27 overall player and seventh-ranked edge rusher on The Athletic’s updated top 150 free agents list.
A 2014 second-round pick by the Cowboys, Lawrence started each of Dallas’ first four games in 2024, recording 14 tackles, four tackles for loss, three sacks and five quarterback hits. But a foot injury in Week 4 sidelined him for the remainder of the season.
In the interview, Lawrence also talked about the impact former Cowboys defensive line coach and current Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde had on his decision to sign with Seattle.
“In all honesty, most likely not,” Lawrence said when asked if he would be in Seattle if Durde wasn’t the coordinator. “Because I know his style, his system, what he’s expecting from me. And I know he can help me get back to the D Law everybody knows.”
Lawrence’s departure sets up Parsons’ leadership role
Leave it to the Cowboys to make headlines during free agency for something that has nothing to do with any players they’ve added. In their four seasons together, Parsons and Lawrence never seemed close despite rushing the passer together. Lawrence was one of the defensive leaders when Parsons arrived. But Parsons immediately became the face of the defense because of his dominant play.
The way he carried himself might have rubbed Lawrence the wrong way. After the news surfaced that Lawrence was going to Seattle, Parsons tweeted: “It’s my time.” Initially, many thought that was regarding his contract situation, as the 25-year-old is entering the final year of his rookie contract. It was actually about it being time to elevate his leadership. With Lawrence, Zack Martin and Jourdan Lewis all leaving this offseason, it is time for Parsons to take on more of a leadership role. It’ll be interesting to see how he goes about that, especially if his contract situation leads to a potential lengthy holdout. — Jon Machota, Cowboys writer
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Parsons’ resentment is to be expected
Surely, Lawrence’s comments will rub plenty of people in the Cowboys organization the wrong way, but not everybody is as vocal with their opinions as Parsons. To Lawrence’s point, he had been in Dallas since 2014 and never reached a conference championship game, let alone a Super Bowl, so some might say his claim that he would not win a Super Bowl in Dallas was speaking by experience with a large sample.
But to Parsons’ point, he is a superstar defender going into his fifth NFL season, so he’s in the prime of his pro career. He hasn’t experienced playoff success either, but he began his NFL career with three consecutive 12-win seasons before the injury-filled disaster last year. When Lawrence declares the Cowboys as a team that isn’t going to win a Super Bowl in the next few years — Lawrence signed a three-year deal in Seattle — the core of the team is understandably going to take offense to that.
Parsons is part of that core, and a tweet is likely just scratching the surface of expressing his thoughts. Comments to the media when asked about it and a segment on his podcast wouldn’t be surprising either. — Saad Yousuf, Cowboys writer
Required reading
(Photo of DeMarcus Lawrence: Harry How / Getty Images)
