Sport DFW
FanSided

The 11 Best Dallas Cowboys of the Past Decade (2010-2019)

By Reid Hanson

ARLINGTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 10: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been converted to black and white.) Dez Bryant #88 of the Dallas Cowboys prepares to take on the New York Giants at AT&T Stadium on September 10, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 10: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been converted to black and white.) Dez Bryant #88 of the Dallas Cowboys prepares to take on the New York Giants at AT&T Stadium on September 10, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 12
Next
dallas cowboys
ARLINGTON, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 22: Demarcus Lawrence #90 of the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on September 22, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

No. 10 DeMarcus Lawrence, DE

Dallas Cowboys: 2014-present

DeMarcus Lawrence (aka Tank Lawrence) has been a fixture on the Cowboys’ line for the better part of the decade. Drafted at the top of the second round in the 2014 draft, Tank was given the impossible task of replacing DeMarcus Ware on the edge.

Injuries robbed him of most of that rookie season so it wasn’t until Year 2 when he broke out as a player. While he only tallied eight sacks that season, he was leading the team in splash plays (by a wide margin) and becoming a well-rounded edge player.

As one of the most technically sound players in the league, Tank is a do-it-all every-down player who plays the screen, running game, and pass rush with the best of them. In 2017 he exploded for 14.5 sacks and established himself as one the best edge rushers in the NFL. He followed that up last year with 10.5 sacks, 15 tackles for loss, 66 total pressure (both up from 2017) and 23 QB hits.

In 2019, a “down year”, DeMarcus Lawrence was No. 3  in the NFL in pass-rush win rate, winning 27%.

His back-to-back strong seasons ranked him No. 5 on Pro Football Focus’ top-10 edge rushers list and no edge player in the entire league was more productive behind the line of scrimmage than Lawrence when combining the 2017-18 seasons.

2019 saw a decline in production but it’s not as significant as sack-counters like to think. Yes, he’s only collected 5 sacks but he’s been a regular disrupter despite being one of the most double-teamed players in the league.

According to ESPN’s Next Gen Stats, DeMarcus Lawrence was No. 3  in the NFL in pass-rush win rate, winning 27% in 2019.

Tank may not have pilled up the sacks he did the past two seasons, but it’s not like he’s mailing it in or ineffective like some people suggest. We know sacks are poor measurement of player performance because they aren’t very stable year-to-year. We have a good example of this here.

Home/Dallas Cowboys