Jerry Sounds Pretty Excited About the Duo of Lawrence, Gregory

Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones sounds pretty happy about his past two second round picks.

The Cowboys selected defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence out of Boise State in the second round of the 2014 Draft. They picked defensive end Randy Gregory in the second round this year, 60th overall, out of Nebraska. The excitement for both young players is certainly understandable.

Lawrence missed exactly half of last season after suffering a broken foot in training camp and didn’t really announce his presence until the playoffs, when he had two sacks in two games, a strong finish he’ll look to build on in 2015. As for Gregory, the team has been highly impressed with him so far. He recorded a sack in his first preseason game last week in San Diego.

The idea of the two bookending the Cowboys’ defensive front for years to come makes the aforementioned Jones borderline giddy.

“Both of them are just absolutely essential,” Jones said, per the Dallas Morning News. “More importantly, they’re just like the clouds parting and the light coming through in terms of what it means to our team and certainly our defense. Gregory is unique. And there’s no question that he’s getting some of the best coaching there is, Leon Lett and those guys, Rod Marinelli. It’s just wonderful.

“The same thing applies to Lawrence. Lawrence is a better player than we thought he was when we drafted him. He’s a better player than we thought he was during the year last year, even when he made that great play that he made in the playoffs. He’s a better player. He’s a force. And he’s got a natural position at left end because of his unique ability to go from speed to power.

“Boy, I’ll tell you what, you put those two guys there and then you basically complement it with Hardy and I just can’t tell you how good that sounds to my ears coming out of my mouth.”