“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).