The Cowboys recently stepped up their offer to defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence to meet his $20MM asking price. But, as Marlo Stanfield once famously said in “The Wire,” the price of the brick is going up. 

In the last few weeks, Lawrence has gone from asking for $20MM/year to $22.5MM per annum, according to Calvin Watkins of The Athletic. The Cowboys’ current offer would make Lawrence the league’s highest-paid 4-3 defensive end, but the pass rusher is looking to match the $22.5MM AAV on Aaron Donald‘s deal and inch towards the $23.5MM per year earned by Khalil Mack.

Lawrence, 27 in April, is already the highest-paid 4-3 defensive end in the NFL thanks to his $20.5MM franchise tag. However, he has indicated that he won’t report to the club until he gets a new deal.

This is shaping up to be a challenging negotiation for the Cowboys, but that’s nothing new for owner Jerry Jones.

“This has gone on as far back for me, notably, with Emmitt Smith,” Jones said. “Any of you know my relationship with Emmitt Smith today know that’s a memory we smile about the way we are, 20-something years later and we’re in business together. That’s just part of the business. The main thing, and I don’t want to be cavalier, this is a significant thing for not only our franchise but DeMarcus’ life. It would make anyone be very, very judicious as they are working through the terms of this agreement.”

Tethered to a franchise tag he has yet to sign, DeMarcus Lawrence remains in a holding pattern with the Cowboys. The team may be starting to bridge the gap, but a lot of ground still needs to be covered, it appears.

The Cowboys have made a stronger offer to Lawrence, coming up from their initial proposal, Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes. Still, the sides are “far apart,” Hill adds.

As of the March deadline to place franchise tags on players, the Cowboys did not view Lawrence as a $20MM-per-year player. With the figure for a second tag spiking north of that number, it would stand to complicate matters. The Cowboys’ initial offers were for less than $20MM AAV. Lawrence stands to make $20.5MM on this second franchise tag. He signed his $17MM-plus tender quickly in 2018 and attended offseason workouts; that is not the plan this year.

The Pro Bowl defensive end has threatened to postpone a shoulder surgery until a long-term deal is finalized. That would stand to affect Lawrence’s availability for training camp, should this impasse drag until the mid-July tag deadline.

Even if Lawrence had undergone the surgery in January, David Moore of the Dallas Morning News notes the plan was for the team to limit his work throughout the offseason and give him days off during camp. This procedure requires a three- to four-month rehab timeline, per Moore. This operation being delayed until the summer would place Lawrence’s status for the early part of the season in question.

Jerry Jones did not sound fazed by Lawrence’s leverage play and noted his availability for the 2019 season would factor into what kind of contract the Cowboys offer.

“We’re all aware, as it turns out, this is a contract to play football and the first year is a big one,” Jones said, via Hill. “At the kinds of dollars we’re talking about, it’s just a given that you’d get the full year at top, physical condition, that’s what you’re getting. If you don’t get that it depreciates what you’re doing. It works both ways.”

It likely would have taken more than Trey Flowers‘ five-year, $90MM contract to bring Lawrence to the table to sign before that deal was announced, but with Lawrence’s numbers over the past two seasons bettering the new Lion’s marks, it may increase the 26-year-old Cowboy’s resolve to seek a deal worth considerably more.

With two days to go until the franchise-tag deadline, the Cowboys have not made any progress on a DeMarcus Lawrence deal. Calvin Watkins of The Athletic tweets that the two sides are not close to finalizing a long-term deal. Clarence Hill Jr. of the Star Telegram echoes that sentiment, noting that a deal isn’t expected by the March 5th deadline “barring [an] unexpected miracle offer.”

Unless the Cowboys are willing to risk Lawrence reaching unrestricted free agency, the team’s only logical course is to slap the defensive end with the franchise tag. As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com points out, this may be Lawrence’s preferred route. After being tagged in 2018, Lawrence would earn $20.56MM if he was tagged for a second-straight season. His franchise number in 2020 would balloon to $29.6MM, meaning Lawrence would technically be eyeing $50MM over the next two years.

Ultimately, Florio opines that the Pro Bowler could be seeking a deal that pays him close to that amount of money through the first two years of the contract. If he doesn’t sign a deal, he’ll either earn a lucrative franchise tag in 2020 or he’ll finally hit unrestricted free agency. Lawrence could also follow Le’Veon Bell and sit out the entire 2019 campaign, although that probably wouldn’t increase his worth.

Further complicating matters is Lawrence’s impending shoulder surgery. Florio writes that the 26-year-old refuses to have the operation until he’s inked a long-term deal. This could merely be leverage by Lawrence’s camp to get a deal completed before the July 15 deadline, but it complicates matters nonetheless.

In 2017, Lawrence compiled 14.5 sacks, 58 total tackles, and four forced fumbles. Instead of doing a long-term deal last year, the Cowboys asked him to prove himself once more. He answered with 10.5 sacks, 39 quarterback pressures, and a second consecutive Pro Bowl nod.

The Cowboys made an offer defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence recently, team executive Stephen Jones says (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Todd Archer). Jones is hopeful that the two sides will reach a long-term accord before March 5, the deadline for teams to use the franchise tag. The Cowboys will start extension talks in earnest with agent David Canter later this week at the combine in Indianapolis. 

“It’s the last day you’ve got to tag him but at the end of the day we know it’s not over if it doesn’t get done by then,” Jones said. “I hate to put deadlines on anything. Would we like to get it done? I’d like to have it done yesterday. We’ve just got to continue to work.”

Lawrence has said that he will not cooperate with a second consecutive franchise tag, so the Cowboys are holding off on using the placeholder. The $20.5MM would keep him from the open market, but it would also mean that Lawrence will be a no-show for the offseason program and training camp. Beyond that, a holdout could extend into the regular season.

In 2017, Lawrence recorded 14.5 sacks, 58 total tackles, and four forced fumbles. Instead of doing a long-term deal last year, the Cowboys asked him to prove himself once more. He answered with 10.5 sacks, 39 quarterback pressures, and a second consecutive Pro Bowl nod, so this time the asking price is even higher.

Lawrence’s targeted deal is unclear, but he may be looking to match or top the contracts of Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack. Those recent pacts topped the $22MM mark in average annual value.

On Tuesday, NFL teams can begin placing the franchise tag on pending free agents. The Cowboys, however, will not be taking that step right away with pass rusher Demarcus Lawrence, Clarence Hill of the Star-Telegram hears. 

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Lawrence has already made it clear that he will not go along with a second consecutive tag, so the Cowboys are looking to avoid a contentious negotiation with the 26-year-old (27 in April). Instead, they will take a wait-and-see approach while keeping the tag option in their back pocket up until the March 5 deadline.

If tagged, Lawrence would make $20.5MM in 2019 per the terms of his second-time tender. From there, they’ll have a few months before the franchise tag extension deadline in the summer to hammer out a long-term deal.

Last year, the Cowboys pushed Lawrence to prove himself all over again with a productive and healthy year. He delivered with 10.5 sacks, 39 quarterback pressures, and a second consecutive Pro Bowl nod.

Cowboys Pro Bowl defensive end Demarcus Lawrence is expected to undergo offseason surgery on his shoulder, though a time and place has yet to be discussed, the Dallas Morning News’ Jon Machota tweets. 

Lawrence has reportedly played with a torn labrum for the past two seasons, and he is now going to get it fixed.

Lawrence’s name will be a popular one this coming offseason. Not for his rehab of this likely minor injury, but for his contract status with the Cowboys. After playing the 2017 campaign on the franchise tag, the pass-rushing end will be looking to ink a long-term deal with the Cowboys in the coming weeks.

Dallas has substantial cap space — a projected $54MM — and Jerry Jones hinted they are more comfortable giving Lawrence a long-term deal following his standout 2018 campaign. If a deal cannot be reached, however, the Cowboys would likely use the franchise tag again, which would likely not sit well with Lawrence, who has professed his desire with the Cowboys.

“If they don’t want this energy and intensity and this focus every day to get better, then make your move. The ball is in their hands. I feel like I’ve prepared for this moment and showed them I’m here for the long haul.”

Should the Cowboys place the tag on him again in 2019, Lawrence would stand to make around $20.5MM.

Last year, the Cowboys and Demarcus Lawrence were unable to come to terms on a long-term deal, which resulted in Lawrence playing out the season on the one-year franchise tag. This time around, it sounds like the Cowboys are much more eager to get something done.

“I wouldn’t say we were a long ways apart; we were apart,” Jones said of last year’s talks (via Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas News). “Certainly DeMarcus has done his part to make us feel more comfortable. He put together now two back-to-back, double-digit sack seasons. Of course he’s a leader by example. … Nothing’s changed in terms of my opinion, except for the better.”

Lawrence was plagued by back issues earlier in his career, but he has now turned in two consecutive healthy seasons. In 2017, he had 14.5 sacks, 58 total tackles, and four forced fumbles. This year, he had 10.5 sacks, 64 stops, two forced fumbles, and an interception. The Cowboys asked for a repeat of ’17 and they more or less got it, which has made them comfortable with a longer arrangement.

Last year, Lawrence earned $17.143MM under the franchise tender, but he has already said he’s not open to playing on the tag in 2019. Both sides now seem on the same page, but a new deal for Lawrence won’t come cheap. The Cowboys defensive star may have his eye on deals signed by Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack, which each exceeded the $22MM/year mark.