DeMarcus Lawrence has confirmed that the 2026 season will be his last in the NFL, placing a finish line on a career that found its long-awaited championship reward only after he left the Dallas Cowboys.

The 34-year-old will retire following his second campaign with the Seattle Seahawks, despite having another year remaining on the contract he signed in March 2025. Family considerations have influenced the decision, with Lawrence retaining his home in Dallas and spending much of the offseason in Texas following the birth of his daughter Syenna. Lawrence joined Seattle after Dallas declined to offer him another contract, leaving the franchise that selected him in the second round of the 2014 draft. He departed with a pointed assessment of their respective championship prospects.

“Dallas is my home,” Lawrence said after joining the Seahawks. “I made my home there, my family lives there. I’m forever gonna be there, but I know for sure I’m not going to win a Super Bowl there.”

The remark prompted criticism from former team-mate Micah Parsons and others connected to the Cowboys but, 11 months later, Seattle defeated New England 29-13 in Super Bowl LX and Lawrence had secured the championship that repeatedly remained beyond his reach in Dallas.

He was more than a veteran passenger during that run too, starting 16 regular season games, producing 53 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, six sacks and three forced fumbles. Two of those loose balls were returned for touchdowns during the same victory over Arizona, while his work against the run remained central to Mike Macdonald’s defense. Lawrence subsequently added sacks in Seattle’s divisional round win over San Francisco and its NFC Championship Game victory against the Los Angeles Rams before earning the fifth Pro Bowl selection of his career.

The physical and emotional toll of a 12th NFL season initially left his future uncertain, however. Lawrence had already endured back surgery, two broken feet and the Lisfranc injury that restricted his final Dallas campaign to four appearances. Seattle entered the offseason without an immediate commitment that he would return. By May, however, Lawrence had decided that winning the Super Bowl had not exhausted his appetite for football.

“Being able to reach the top and understanding that my body still has more to give, I still have more to give,” he said after rejoining the Seahawks for organised team activities. “I had the most fun I’ve ever had playing football last year. Taking all of that into consideration, knowing what I’d be leaving behind, the chances of retirement were very slim.”

That return will now be a farewell tour rather than the beginning of another multi-season run. Lawrence enters 2026 with 67.5 career sacks, 24 forced fumbles and more than 500 tackles. His 61.5 sacks for Dallas rank tenth in franchise history, while his 14.5-sack breakout season in 2017 earned second-team All-Pro recognition.

Seattle must eventually replace both his production and his influence within a defense that has already lost Boye Mafe. Uchenna Nwosu, Derick Hall, Jamie Sheriff, Connor O’Toole and Jared Ivey form the remainder of a changing edge group, although Lawrence’s advance notice at least gives the Seahawks time to prepare for that transition.