How much will the Dallas Cowboys pay DeMarcus Lawrence?

The Dallas Cowboys were looking for a War Daddy and DeMarcus Lawrence is certainly playing the part. How much will the team have to pay to keep him?

At the end of the season, the Dallas Cowboys will have a decision to make about defensive end  DeMarcus Lawrence’s next contract. Since the beginning of the 2017 season, the 26-year old Lawrence has recorded 20.0 total sacks. Only Arizona Cardinals defensive end Chandler Jones, with 21.0 sacks, has more.

Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller set the high-water mark for defensive players when he signed a six-year, $19.1 million average per year (APY) contract in 2016, when he was 27 years old.

The landscape tilted at the beginning of the 2018 season. For a day, Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald was the highest paid defensive player in the league after signing a six-year $22.5 million APY extension at 27-years old.

Linebacker Khalil Mack signed with the Chicago Bears for six-years at $23.5 million APY entering his age 27 season the next day. Both players have seven years including the 2018 season before they become free agents.

Lawrence is playing the 2018 season at the $17.143M franchise tag. He likely is expecting a raise when he signs his next contract entering his age 27 season.

We won’t know how big a raise until the Cowboys and D-Law’s representatives can start talking at the end of the season but let’s dig into some interesting facts and speculate.

David Levine wrote an article in 2016 for SalaryCapCrunch.com projecting the NFL salary cap through the 2020 season. While his model underestimated the streaming revenue the NFL would soon generate, he was spot on with his salary cap increase between the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Using his projected increase for the 2019 season, the salary cap projects at $186.3 million for next season.