Williams: Cowboys will use franchise tag on DeMarcus Lawrence

Cotton

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Report: Cowboys will use franchise tag on DeMarcus Lawrence
Posted by Charean Williams on February 19, 2018, 12:58 PM EST

The Cowboys will use the franchise tag on defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, according to David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. That was expected all along, if the sides don’t come to agreement on a long-term deal before March 6.

The franchise tag would fully guarantee Lawrence $17.5 million in 2018 on a one-year deal, overthecap.com projects. But both sides want a long-term deal for Lawrence.

Lawrence, 25, had a breakout season with 14.5 sacks and 52 quarterback pressures in 2017. He answered owner Jerry Jones’ call for a “war daddy” pass rusher.

“To me, the only reason you use a franchise tag is to hopefully protect yourself if you can’t get a long-term deal signed that you like,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said at the Senior Bowl last month, via the Morning News. “That’s normally the route we like to go. Certainly we’re going to roll up our sleeves and see if we can do something with DeMarcus without having a franchise tag.”

The Cowboys still would have until July 16 to negotiate a long-term deal even if they apply the franchise tag to Lawrence.
 

Plan9Misfit

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Well, most of our cap space is now gone unless we get a deal in place.
 

Cotton

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Well, most of our cap space is now gone unless we get a deal in place.
David Moore was saying he didn't expect them to do it immediately. That they would continue to work on a deal before the March 6th tag deadline.
 

boozeman

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DLK150

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Hopefully a decent contract can be negotiated, maybe one that is back loaded or has some incentives thrown in. I'm not down with franchise tagging someone who could be a one year wonder if it's going to eat most of the cap space available.
 

Couchcoach

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I still don't know what to make of Lawrence. Is he a future difference maker? Or is he a one hit wonder who went balls out during his contract year just to get paid, only to roll over after his long term contract?
 

Couchcoach

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This is Byron Jones' contract year. Hoping Kris Richard gets the best out of him. But watch him play like the second coming of Deion, and we're in the same position with him this time next year :unsure
 

Cowboysrock55

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I still don't know what to make of Lawrence. Is he a future difference maker? Or is he a one hit wonder who went balls out during his contract year just to get paid, only to roll over after his long term contract?
I've seen him go balls out before so effort has never been a question in my mind. My only concern would be health but at 25 years old if the doctors are saying he is good than I wouldn't worry about it. Delaying an extension in my opinion is only going to make him more expensive. Give him more than 17 in guarantees and spread them out over the length of the contract. Then pay him a low base salary in year one to get that cap figure a lot lower per year than 17 mil.
 

Couchcoach

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Yeah I'm not a fan of the tag either. I guess it does make a lot more sense to give him a long term contract that doesn't crush the cap. Franchising seems to make the next contract way too high.
 

Donpingon

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Yeah I'm not a fan of the tag either. I guess it does make a lot more sense to give him a long term contract that doesn't crush the cap. Franchising seems to make the next contract way too high.
I tend to agree however imagine if we had signed Anthony Spencer to a LT deal rather than tag him two years in a row
 

Cowboysrock55

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I tend to agree however imagine if we had signed Anthony Spencer to a LT deal rather than tag him two years in a row
I mean the guy got 20 mil guaranteed for those two years. I wonder what a signing bonus would have looked like back then? Especially since he was coming off like a 6 sack season when we could have given him a long term deal.
 

Donpingon

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I mean the guy got 20 mil guaranteed for those two years. I wonder what a signing bonus would have looked like back then? Especially since he was coming off like a 6 sack season when we could have given him a long term deal.
Fair enough- I took a quick peek at the 2014 free agency deals and Michael Johnson signed a five year deal for $40m with $25m guaranteed
 

Cowboysrock55

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Fair enough- I took a quick peek at the 2014 free agency deals and Michael Johnson signed a five year deal for $40m with $25m guaranteed
Carr got like 10 mil in signing bonus in 2012 though right?

But back to Lawrence. I mean the only way the franchise tag really helps us is if Lawrence sucks next year. If Lawrence plays well he's going to want even more money next season and be a year older. And the franchise tag at that point probably wouldn't be feasible so he'd have us over a barrel. It just makes sense to me to get the long term deal done now and maybe get his cap number down to the 10 mil range for next season.
 

Simpleton

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Spencer was never the caliber of player that Lawrence was this past year. Lawrence was a legit DPOY candidate at 25 years old, Spencer didn't even get to double digit sacks until he was 28 in his 6th year, and that was with a possible first-ballot HOF'er in his prime rushing on the opposite side.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Spencer was never the caliber of player that Lawrence was this past year. Lawrence was a legit DPOY candidate at 25 years old, Spencer didn't even get to double digit sacks until he was 28 in his 6th year, and that was with a possible first-ballot HOF'er in his prime rushing on the opposite side.
Oh yeah, not comparable at all. Shit Lawrence's second season was probably better than every season of Spencer's career except one. They are definitely different caliber players.
 

ravidubey

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This is Byron Jones' contract year. Hoping Kris Richard gets the best out of him. But watch him play like the second coming of Deion, and we're in the same position with him this time next year :unsure
Not a bad place to be if he plays that well.
 

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Rev

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LOL.. Way to get what your asking for.
 

1bigfan13

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I've gone back and forth on how I feel about Lawrence. I definitely want to bring him back but I don't think we should be paying him like a top 5 pass rusher. He hasn't shown the consistency from year to year. Aside from last season it's just been pockets of great play here and there.
 

boozeman

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I've gone back and forth on how I feel about Lawrence. I definitely want to bring him back but I don't think we should be paying him like a top 5 pass rusher. He hasn't shown the consistency from year to year. Aside from last season it's just been pockets of great play here and there.
The no-brainer is to just tag him and let him prove it.

But here we are, talking about getting a long-term deal.
 
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