IRVING, Texas – After a nine-week wait, rookie defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence has joined the Cowboys' active roster.
Lawrence was activated to the 53-man roster Saturday morning as part of the Cowboys' final preparations for Sunday's game against Arizona. Defensive end Lavar Edwards was waived to open a roster spot.
It's been a long wait for Lawrence, who the Cowboys selected No. 34 overall in the 2014 NFL Draft last May. Dallas made a Day 2 trade with Washington to acquire the pass rusher, giving up their third-round pick and swapping second-round picks with the Redskins.
After showing some initial promise in training camp, the Boise State product broke his foot going against Tyron Smith during drills. The injury was diagnosed as an eight-to-12 week recovery, which prompted the Cowboys to move Lawrence to short-term injured reserve at the start of the season.
Lawrence was inactive until Week 6. He was eligible to practice with the team starting in Week 7, and he is now finally eligible to play this weekend.
The Cowboys are hoping he can bolster a disappointing pass rush. The defense has struggled to reach the quarterback this season, with just nine sacks on the year – and three of those came last week against Washington. Despite that, Lawrence was reluctant to say the defense "needed" his presence.
"I ain't going to say they need me, because they've been doing it and winning games off of me not being there. I'd just say I'll be a help to them when I get back," he said.
Lawrence does have high expectations for himself, however. Sunday afternoon, he'll have the opportunity to start meeting them against the NFC's hottest team.
[embeddedad0]
