Field Gulls
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.
Before this year, would you have considered Lawrence a Hall of Fame player?
Let’s layout some of his baseline stats:
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.
