Cowboys rookie defensive end Demarcus Lawrence made clear shortly after arriving in Dallas that he was not trying to be DeMarcus Ware 2.0.
But if he lives up to his own expectations, Lawrence will have a better rookie year than Ware in one (pretty important) statistical category: Sacks. Ware, a legend in North Texas at this point, had eight sacks in his rookie year of 2005; Lawrence is going after double digits.
“My expectation is to go out and get 10 sacks, 10-plus sacks--whatever coach needs me to do,” Lawrence said, per the team’s official website. “I really don’t think coach really cares about the numbers, he just cares about us doing our assignment and job, really.”
The expectations from the outside will be high for the Boise State product. He was drafted in the second round of this year’s draft and the Cowboys are hoping he helps turn around a defensive front that was a largely ineffective, patchwork job a year ago.
Not that he’s thinking about any external expectations.
“My mentality is, I have my own expectations, I know what I need to do to be successful and help this team be where we need to be,” Lawrence said. “It don’t matter what everybody else’s expectations is, it’s about the team.”
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