DeMarcus Lawrence puts his stamp on Seahawks defense by stomping Vikings

Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation’s Doug Farrar writes about the game’s Secret Superstars — those players whose performances might slip under the radar for whatever reasons. In this installment, we focus on Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman DeMarcus Lawrence, who has come back from a last lost season with the Dallas Cowboys to his new status as the tone-setter for the NFL’s nastiest defense.

DeMarcus Lawrence isn’t really underrated in a career sense. Selected in the second round of the 2014 draft out of Boise State, the 6’3, 265-pound Lawrence has put up 69 sacks and 475 total pressures in a remarkable 11-year career with the Dallas Cowboys. And the Seahawks certainly weren’t underrating him when they gave him a three-year, $32.5 million contract with $18 million guaranteed this offseason.

But you may have to pick through your memory banks a bit if you want Lawrence highlights. Last season, he missed all but the first four games with a foot injury, and given that he turned 33 on April 28, you may well have wondered just how much Lawrence still had in the tank.

Well, wonder no more. This season, Lawrence has totaled seven sacks (his most since 2021), 39 total pressures (his most since 2023), nine tackles for loss (also his most since 2023), 18 stops, and a forced fumble. Moreover, in a defensive front that was already fairly loaded before his addition, Lawrence has added a toughness, nastiness, and veteran resolve to get things done that makes all the difference.

On/off splits can tell interesting stories in these cases, and in Lawrence’s case, it’s pretty clear how much better this defense is with Lawrence on the field. The one game he missed this season — Week 5 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, due to a quadriceps injury — was the one in which Seattle’s league-best defense in DVOA looked nothing like that.

Without Lawrence in that 38-35 loss, Seattle allowed 3.8 yards per play, had one sack, and wound up with a Defensive EPA per play of -0.195 (Defensive EPA is better when when it’s positive). With Lawrence on the field, the Seahawks have averaged 16.3 points per game, 2.25 yards per play allowed, 3.55 sacks per game, and a Defensive EPA per play of +0.075.

While he’s been a standout through most of the season, Lawrence saved a few of his most remarkable plays for Seattle’s 26-0 thrashing of the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday. It was Seattle’s first shutout since 2015, and the first time the Vikings had been blanked since 2007. From the start, Lawrence was inclined to unleash hell on Minnesota’s offense, led as it was by undrafted rookie quarterback Max Brosmer.

The veteran announced his presence with authority pretty early in this one. With 3:14 left in the first half, Minnesota had the ball at the Seattle 4-yard line on fourth-and-1. Lawrence crashed through the Vikings’ protections (which didn’t account for him at all), chased Brosmer back a good 20 yards, and Brosmer did what no quarterback should do — make a throwing attempt when he’s dead to rights on the ground. The result was linebacker Ernest Jones’ 85-yard pick-six, but it was Lawrence who set it up.

“While I was in the process of bringing him down, I’m thinking he was throwing it out of bounds,” Lawrence said. “But when I heard the crowd roar, I am trying to find out what’s going on, and I just see E.J. just chucking right beside me. I got up and ran and celebrated.

“E.J. is special. Having a Mike linebacker that is a great communicator but also that loves to run and hit. Clearly, he makes interceptions now, too. He’s all-around, and I’m glad to have him.”

“I saw DeMarcus holding him, getting ready to bring him to the ground, and when you catch these interceptions, everything slows down,” Jones said of the play. “I’m thinking, ‘There’s no way he’s about to throw this.’ He let it go, then I catch it, and I’m like, ‘There’s nobody in front of me.’ So, I immediately started running. I look up at the video board and I’m like, ‘Dang, somebody’s catching me.’ It was Riq [cornerback Tariq Woolen]. Riq was trying to beat me to the end zone. That was my first ever defensive touchdown. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the end zone, so it’s great.”

The second big play Lawrence brought to this defensive showcase came on the Vikings’ next drive. Third-and-12 from the Minnesota 30-yard line, and Lawrence just toyed with right tackle Brian O’Neill on the way to Brosmer for a sack. Lawrence has all kinds of power and speed-to-power moves, but he’s also a technician, and he’s quite good at getting his blocker off his base so he can start moving the poor guy back through the pocket. Fullback C.J. Ham was late to get into his release route because he had to account for Leonard Williams’ multi-gap stunt, so Brosmer had no quick outlets to negate the pressure.

The Seahawks have run more stunts than any other NFL team this season, and this is why.

Play 3 from Lawrence that shut the Vikings down came with 8:52 left in the third quarter. Minnesota had third-and-14 at the Seattle 43-yard line, and Brosmer didn’t like anything he saw downfield against the Seahawks’ Cover-6. So, he simply checked it down to running back Aaron Jones, and at first, it appeared that the Vikings might have gotten away with one. Lawrence came down hard to check Jones out of the play, but he didn’t quite hit it, and Jones caught the ball. Lawrence then recovered, caught up to Jones, and walloped the ball out for the forced fumble, recovered by safety Ty Okada.

“It’s great,” Macdonald said of the final score. “When shutouts happen, it’s hard to keep teams out of plus territory, so when you get there, taking the ball away in the red zone… I mean, DeMarcus Lawrence’s caused fumble is probably my new favorite play of all time. Just an incredible, incredible play. I just saw a blur coming down and just violently attack the ball. It’s been such a point of emphasis, and to see him do that was really great.”

“I wanted to do a hit call on the running back,” Lawrence said of the forced fumble. “I knew the ball was coming out quick. As soon as I did the hit call, he actually gave me a little thump, so I fell, but playing football all the years that I’ve played, that’s a hot stove, so you got to get up fast. Once I got up and re-traced, the ball carrier was there; attack it.”

Every team has those “glue guys” who hold things together on the field and in the locker room — those players who have such universal respect that they become the barometers for the whole thing. In short order, DeMarcus Lawrence has not only put his NFL career back on track after a bit of a lost season in 2024, but he’s also become one of the glue pieces.

Every defense needs a philosophy, and when Lawrence was asked how it feels that the 9-3 Seahawks can control their future for the postseason, he made his philosophy very clear:

“I don’t care. They line up, excuse my language, they get f—ed up. Thank you.”

And that, as they say, is that.