DeMarcus Lawrence must be a happy man with his current football life. After a very good season, the Seattle Seahawks edge rusher is headed to the Pro Bowl for the fifth time in his career, and his team is going back to the playoffs. Meanwhile, his former team, the Dallas Cowboys, is still adrift on the NFL ocean.
However, NFL players also participate in the sport to earn a substantial amount of money. Due to the way many contracts are designed, a player will receive a substantial amount of guaranteed money, but can only reach their maximum by achieving various goals. Lawrence has one to reach in Week 18 when the Seahawks play the San Francisco 49ers.
Should he get two sacks, he would reach a total of eight for the season. Reaching that number would trigger an incentive that would pay him $500,000. The team is clearly hoping he makes his money because that would likely mean good things happened against San Francisco.
Seattle Seahawks' DeMarcus Lawrence could make $500,000 with a great game against the 49ers
The edge rusher had one game this season in which he recorded two sacks, in Week 6 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The 49ers don't give up many sacks, though. Their quarterbacks have only been sacked 24 times this season (fifth-least in the league), and when Brock Purdy plays, the team gives up an average of just one a game.
Lawrence's eight sacks were an odd bargaining discussion for his agent, though. Six would have made more sense. The edge rusher hasn't had eight sacks in a season since 2018, and $500,000 is a relatively low amount for an incentive in the NFL.
For what it's worth, the Seahawks have allowed just 25 sacks, a good improvement over recent seasons. San Francisco has only 18 sacks this season, easily last in the league.
Lawrence isn't the only Seattle player with something financially to play for in Week 18. Fellow edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu needs half a sack to get a $1 million incentive. He needed to have a total of 9.5 between 2023 and 2025, and he currently has nine.
Quarterback Sam Darnold has several incentives he has a chance to meet against the 49ers, each of which would give him an extra $500,000.
He needs to finish with a passer rating of 100 (he is currently at 99.2 after being over 100 for much of the season). Darnold needs 28 touchdown passes, and he currently has 25. He needs just 150 passing yards to reach 4,000, so hopefully he will get there. And he needs to complete 67.5 percent of his passes for the season for the last incentive to kick in (he is currently at 67.2).