SAN JOSE, Calif. – Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Demarcus Lawrence is one win from the ultimate told-you-so.
Lawrence left the Cowboys after 11 seasons this past offseasn and got in a verbal dust-up with his former team when he said he went to Seattle because he knew "for sure" he wasn't going to win a Super Bowl in Dallas.
The first question he was asked during Super Bowl week was about proving his instincts true. The veteran deflected to his teammates.
"Shoot, ain't nothing for me to say," Lawrence said on Monday during Super Bowl LX Opening Night. "I did what I was supposed to do. Shoutout to my teammates, carrying me all this way. Shoot, we here."
The 33-year-old inked a three-year contract with the Seahawks in the offseason. The pass rusher said what swayed him to Seattle was the way head coach Mike Macdonald puts his players in a position to make plays -- and that shot to finally get a chance to hoist a Lombardi Trophy.
"Just being real about the situation, understanding that football is not for long for any player and understanding my window for opportunity is closing," Lawrence said. "I don't have long to play this game. I have to win now, and I understood what Seattle was building up here, and I just wanted to be a part of it."
Adding a potent pass rusher to an already good defense helped take the Seahawks to another level.
"Demarcus means a lot," defensive tackle Jarran Reed told NFL.com. "He came over here from the Cowboys, and I think that was the player that we needed, the dark horse that we needed to change our defense. He rushes good, he plays well, he causes turnovers, his effort is unbelievable and he's a great teammate."
Additions like Lawrence and others helped Seattle's D go from good to great this year. A unit that finished 11th in points and 14th in yards allowed a year ago was the stingiest group in 2025, allowing 17.2 points per game, the fewest in the NFL, sixth in yards and sixth in takeaways.
"I haven't been around a guy like that that just has such a high football instinct," defensive lineman Leonard Williams said of Lawrence. "He does a tremendous job of getting after the ball, creating turnovers, creating takeaways, sometimes not even for himself, for the rest of the guys around him. That's huge for our defense."
Williams noted that the 33-year-old's relentless effort, play after play, rubs off on the rest of the unit.
"We joke about him being old, but we also call him 'Crash Out' because, for him being an old guy, he's flying around, he's running full speed to the ball every play," Williams said. "When young guys see that they have no choice but to put in effort on every down, and it brings a high-quality competition between the rest of the guys."
Lawrence represents a difference-making defensive front, one asked to pressure without extra rushers and defend the run with light boxes, so that Macdonald can play his elaborate coverages.
The Seahawks generated the fourth-highest pressure rate (38.1) but blitzed at the fifth-lowest rate (22.3) in 2025, including playoffs, per Next Gen Stats. Seattle had a 35.2 pressure percent without blitzing (fifth-highest in the NFL).
The ability of the defensive line to gobble up running backs and generate pressure with just four keys the entire unit.
"It's huge. I think it opens up our whole defense," Williams said. "It's the same with the run game. If we can stop the run with two high safeties, if we can pass rush with four guys, it opens up the rest of the defense in terms of when Mike wants to dial up pressures and things like that, it allows him to do those things. As a defensive front, we take a lot of pride in being able to stop the run with just four down, being able to rush with just four down."
The Seahawks come in waves, not just one defender who offenses can key on. Lawrence led the unit with 51 QB pressures, but four other players generated at least 40: Byron Murphy (46), Williams (45), Uchenna Nwosu (44), Boye Mafe (41). They were the only club in 2025 to have five players with a minimum of 40 pressures.
Williams, 31, said that the ability to rotate bodies has him feeling fresh 19 games into the season.
"I mean, the depth is everything," he said. "I think that's what's able to allow us to roll so much this season. You know, we have a plethora of guys that can get after the quarterback, a plethora of guys that can stop the run, and we keep our guys fresh. And even, you know, leading up to this moment, you know, by now, by three or four weeks ago, I'm already really tired of the season and I'm still feeling pretty fresh right now because of the rotation that we have."
If that fresh unit rolls against Drake Maye and the Patriots on Sunday, Lawrence, Williams, and the rest of the Seahawks D will be standing on the dais for the ultimate trophy presentation.
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