DeMarcus Lawrence could build his case for Hall of Fame with the Seahawks

DeMarcus Lawrence has been playing out of his absolute cranium this season. Being only three years older than Lawrence myself, I do not know how he does this. I can barely get through a game of ultimate frisbee without need for serious rehab.

But along the way to becoming one of the greatest free agency signings in franchise history, and the two or three most disruptive players on defense, DeMarcus Lawrence is also matching some serious all-time NFL marks.

His latest forced fumble on Aaron Jones after getting cheap-chipped to the ground was his 22nd all-time, but the first of this season.

That now gives Lawrence a forced fumble in 11 consecutive seasons over his impressive career. Only his rookie season in 2014, before some of you were even teenagers, came and went without a forced fumble.

The great Charles Tillman, inventor of the punch and all-time leader with 10 fumbles in one season, has the same mark. Eleven seasons in a row with a fumble.

It’s not the most in NFL history but it’s still significant. Jason Taylor had 12, all-time leader Robert Mathis had 11.

Wahoo: Lawrence is not the leader for a record that does not exist. Thank you for wasting internet trees. What’s the point?

My point is that in his 12th year, surrounded by a defensive cast that allows him to wreck games, DeMarcus Lawrence is building the final stage of his Hall of Fame case, and he’s doing it in Seattle.

DeMarcus Lawrence, class of 2030’s?

Before this year, would you have considered Lawrence a Hall of Fame player?

Let’s layout some of his baseline stats:

• 152 career games

• 481 tackles

• 66.5 sacks, 142 QB hits

• 106 Tackles for Loss

• 22 forced fumbles

• 2 INT, 10 fumble recoveries, 4 touchdowns

• 4 Pro Bowl, 1 All-Pro

Lawrence has been an above average player for most his career, but I wouldn’t have advocated heading into this season that he was a lock for the Hall. Not sure I’ve heard that from anyone. In fact, Pro Football Reference has his Hall of Fame Monitor at 37.68 (before anything this season). They say the average HoF inductee at DE scores a 102.

Not close at all?

Hear me out.

Lawrence suffers from three injury-shortened seasons and a slow-roll into his rookie season. That’s eight highly effective years out of 12. That being said, his numbers do flatly fall short of the recent inductees, but it’s not an insurmountable chasm. In fact, I think Seattle may be the best place for him to ride this out, but let’s look at a few other players first. All entered the Hall in 2024 or 2023.

DeMarcus Ware

• 178 career games

• 657 tackles

• 138 sacks, 229 QB hits

• 171 Tackles for Loss

• 35 forced fumbles

• 3 INT, 8 fumble recoveries, 3 touchdowns

• 9 Pro Bowl, 7 All-Pro

Dwight Freeney

• 218 career games

• 350 tackles

• 125 sacks, 148 QB hits

• 128 Tackles for Loss

• 47 forced fumbles

• 0 INT, 4 fumble recoveries, 1 touchdown

• 7 Pro Bowl, 4 All-Pro

Julius Peppers

• 266 career games over a 17-year career

• 719 tackles

• 159.5 sacks, 186 QB hits

• 175 Tackles for Loss

• 51 forced fumbles

• 11 INT, 21 fumble recoveries, 6 touchdowns

• 9 Pro Bowl, 6 All-Pro, 1 Defensive Rookie of Year

If nothing else, Julius Peppers just makes it look like no one else should make the Hall. Sheesh.

Lawrence doesn’t have the numbers – yet, especially sacks. But he’s got more tackles than Freeney, his QB hits are close to everyone, his TFL are close to Freeney, and he’s in the mix or better at scoring touchdowns.

Plus, Lawrence has this thing going on in Seattle. He’s doing some crazy stuff that doesn’t show up in the stat sheet. What do you call a non-sack generating a pick-six?

Now, does that get you in the Hall? Nope. But it gets you talked about. It gets people saying things like “Tank still got i,t, and it’s why he’s in the mix for another Pro Bowl, despite having missed a game.

But go back to the player comps. All of those guys had a longer career. Linemen and QBs get to do that.

So the real question is: how much more does Lawrence have? How much would he need?

Lawrence is on pace to hit his own second-or-third best career marks in TFL, QB hits, and sacks. He’s passed it in fumbles, and the crazy part is he’s by no means slowing down. He’s getting better.

And he signed a three-year contract with the Seahawks. Some people scoffed. No seriously, did you guys see this stuff?

If Lawrence continues at this 2025 pace under Mike Macdonald’s “Death Zone”, for this and two more seasons, here’s his new career total at the end of the contract**I did not assign him two fumble return touchdowns per season

• 188 career games

• 582 tackles

• 82.5 sacks, 194 QB hits

• 136 Tackles for Loss

• 26 forced fumbles

• 3 INT, 12 fumble recoveries, 5 touchdowns

• Let’s say he gets another Pro Bowl out of the deal, giving him five.

Man does that start to look close to those other guys. The Pro Bowl / All-Pro situation is a little weak, I will admit. Far more exciting is that the combination of leadership, talent on the line, and scheme has allowed the 33-year-old Lawrence to be at least as disruptive as he’s ever been, if not more. The stats are close even if they can’t perfectly describe just how freaking impactful Tank is on a drive-to-drive basis. It’s unbelievable, and barring injury the contract is totally worth it.

My hope, and only DeMarcus Ware achieved this, is that Lawrence gets to have a two-team career. What a group to be part of to shore up the rest of a great career, especially after a lifetime of mediocrity in Dallas, getting to enjoy not just the playoffs but a chase for the NFC No. 1 seed.