With many people upset the Cowboys did not help their defense in the first round on Thursday, they made sure they got their guy in the second round by trading up with the Washington Redskins, of all teams.
Lawrence is a pure right defensive end. He had 20 sacks in two seasons at Boise State and he had 20.5 tackles for loss last season. With the loss of DeMarcus Ware, the Cowboys needed a right defensive end. They just turned to another Demarcus. Ware has speed. He has long arms. He can get around the edge, and he should benefit greatly from the coaching of Rod Marinelli.
Before adding Lawrence the Cowboys had plenty of left defensive end types in George Selvie, Anthony Spencer, Jeremy Mincey and Tyrone Crawford.
Lawrence had three separate one-game suspensions, but the Cowboys met with him at Valley Ranch before the draft and were able to get a handle on him.
Love the Broncos: In 2005, the Cowboys drafted Orlando Scandrick out of Boise State in the fifth round. In 2012, they drafted Crawford in the third round out of Boise State. Now they have gone with Lawrence.
There is a chip-on-the-shoulder type attitude that most Boise State players carry and the Cowboys like that, especially in Scandrick. If there has been a complaint about the Cowboys defense with Ware as the best player it is that it has been too nice. Lawrence will bring some attitude.
What’s next: By giving up their second- (No. 47) and third-round picks (No. 78), the Cowboys are done until Saturday unless they trade back into the third round. The Cowboys have eight picks on Saturday with six coming in the seventh round.
