Demarcus Lawrence Signs Franchise Tag

Cowboys defensive end Demarcus Lawrence has signed his franchise tag, according to his agent David Canter (Twitter link). Lawrence wasted no time in inking his tender, as Dallas had just formally applied the tag this afternoon.

As the NFL announced earlier tonight, the franchise tender figure for defensive ends has been set at $17.143MM. By signing his tag, Lawrence has fully guaranteed himself that total. On an annual basis, Lawrence will become the highest-paid defensive end in the league, although the Lions’ Ezekiel Ansah — who will surely ink his own franchise tag in the near future — will shortly join him atop the list.

Dallas indicated early in the offseason that it would deploy the franchise tag on Lawrence if no long-term deal was reached by the tag deadline, which occurs on Tuesday. Lawrence, who turns 26 years old next month, now has until July 16 to work out an extension with the Cowboys. If no comes together by that date, Lawrence must play out the 2018 campaign on the franchise tender.

A former second-round pick, Lawrence put up the best season of his four-year career in 2017. He started all 16 games and finished second in the league with 14.5 sacks, led the NFL with 57 pressures, and graded as the third-best edge rusher among 106 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus.

With Lawrence’s large 2018 base salary on the books, the Cowboys are now extremely tight on cap space (per Over the Cap, Dallas could currently have fewer than $200K in funds). That’s the fourth-lowest amount of cap room in the league, meaning the Cowboys will need to make further transactions in order to comply with the cap. Dez Bryant and Orlando Scandrick have been mentioned as candidates for release, while Dallas might also extend Zack Martin in a move that would reduce his 2018 cap charge.