Seahawks’ DeMarcus Lawrence To Retire After 2026 Season

The 13th-year veteran informed Yahoo’s Jori Epstein he intends to retire after this season. Lawrence is tied to a three-year, $32.5MM contract. Lawrence secured a partial salary guarantee for 2027 at signing; $5MM of his $8.15MM paragraph 5 figure is locked in. The rest becomes guaranteed, due to Lawrence’s vested-vet status, just before Week 1.

Reuniting Lawrence with former Cowboys defensive line coach Aden Durde, the Seahawks were able to land him at a slight discount thanks to the Lisfranc injury that ended his 2024 season before the midpoint. At the time, the Cowboys were planning to retain Micah Parsons. That obviously did not last, and the Seahawks then received a bounce-back season from the former Pro Bowler.

Starting 16 regular-season games, Lawrence finished with six sacks and 20 QB hits; the latter total marked his highwater mark since a Pro Bowl 2018 season. The season also brought a historically unusual sequence in which Lawrence returned two fumbles for touchdowns in the same quarter during a Week 10 win over the Cardinals. Lawrence stuck the landing with two sacks in the playoffs, with the Seahawks receiving healthy seasons from both Lawrence and Uchenna Nwosu. Both are back for 2026, and while Seattle lost Boye Mafe to Cincinnati in free agency, an extension with rotational rusher Derick Hall is now on the books.

Lawrence’s wife and six children continue to live in Dallas, Epstein adds, noting this arrangement led to the veteran considering retirement after Seattle’s Super Bowl victory. Mafe’s exit heightened the need for Lawrence, however, and he will give it another go at age 34. By season’s end, the Seahawks will have three 30-somethings comprising their EDGE two-deep. The team also reunited Durde with Dante Fowler this offseason. Hall profiles as a likely future starter, but with Lawrence and Nwosu back, the former second-rounder stands to reprise his rotational role in 2026.

Nwosu’s extensive Seattle-years injury history, and Lawrence’s age an injury past of his own (13 missed games in 2024, 10 in 2021) would seem to point to Hall starts taking place in 2026. Part of the reason for Seattle’s first-place defensive ranking came via the health of its top two edge defenders, but Lawrence — as of now, at least — is not planning to finish out his contract with the team. He would be tied to a nonguaranteed $9.65MM base salary in 2027.

Dallas’ replacement for DeMarcus Ware — released during the 2014 offseason — Lawrence became an instant contributor and grew into one of the NFL’s better all-around edge players. The Cowboys gave him a five-year, $105MM extension after applying a second franchise tag in 2019, and he reworked the deal to stay in Dallas in 2022 — when Randy Gregory left in free agency. Lawrence had become a Parsons sidekick by that point, but he remained a starter during healthy 2022 and ’23 seasons. For his career, Lawrence has made 139 starts.

Depending on games active, this season could bump the Boise State alum past $150MM in career earnings. Lawrence enters his 13th year with 67.5 career sacks and 108 tackles for loss.