{"id":467700,"date":"2026-10-16T09:40:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T09:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/467700\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T09:40:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T09:40:31","slug":"the-cowboys-plan-to-unleash-first-round-rookie-malachi-lawrence-could-mean-time-is-running-out-for-former-all-pro-to-make-an-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/467700\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cowboys’ plan to unleash first-round rookie Malachi Lawrence could mean time is running out for former All-Pro to make an impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\tHome<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNFL<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDallas Cowboys<\/a><\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys are reworking a struggling defense with the NFC East still up for grabs. And the edge rusher snap counts reveal who could pay the price.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Oct
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOct 8, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys linebacker Malachi Lawrence (57) rushes the line during the game between the Cowboys and the Buccaneers at AT&T Stadium.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys need to fix their defense. That much is clear after a rocky few weeks, and Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer says the team has a plan to do it.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know every detail. Dallas brought in Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant. The Cowboys are also considering moving defensive coordinator Christian Parker up to the booth to give him a bird\u2019s-eye view of the defense.<\/p>\n

Schottenheimer did share some of the personnel plans, though. The biggest one involves first-round rookie EDGE Malachi Lawrence, and the short version is that he is going to play more. That shouldn\u2019t be a surprise given how Lawrence has been playing. <\/p>\n

He got his first sack last week versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His pressure rate of 14.3% in 2026 ranks him fourth among qualified NFL rookies per PFF, behind David Bailey (16.4%), Sonny Styles (15.0%) and Cashius Howell (14.8%).<\/p>\n

But the Cowboys\u2019 plans to play him more raise a question I find fascinating: Where are Lawrence\u2019s new snaps coming from?<\/p>\n

Cowboys edge rusher snap counts<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the snaps break down at edge rusher:<\/p>\n

Donovan Ezeiruaku: 71%<\/p>\n

Rashan Gary: 67%\u00a0<\/p>\n

Malachi Lawrence: 35%\u00a0<\/p>\n

Von Miller: 22%<\/p>\n

Right away, one thing stands out. The Cowboys aren\u2019t rotating their edge rushers nearly as much as they suggested they would back in the preseason. I expected the snap leaders to land somewhere around 60%. Seeing Ezeiruaku and Gary on the field for almost seven out of 10 defensive snaps caught me by surprise.<\/p>\n

The biggest clue, though, is Miller\u2019s week-by-week snap share.<\/p>\n

In Week 1, he played just 16% of the snaps. I didn\u2019t make much of it at the time. The Giants weren\u2019t dropping back much, leaning on the run, quick game, and plenty of screens. Nobody had a real chance to get after QB Jaxson Dart, and it was a bad matchup for Miller.<\/p>\n

His snap count nearly doubled to 30% in Week 2. It settled at 25% in Weeks 3-4, roughly what I expected. With the Commanders in 2025, Miller played 37% of the snaps, and his role in Dallas was supposed to look similar: come in on obvious passing downs and chase the quarterback.<\/p>\n

The results haven\u2019t followed. The Cowboys dropped him to 14% in their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.<\/p>\n

Von Miller is the obvious place to start<\/p>\n

The No. 1 place I\u2019d expect Lawrence\u2019s extra snaps to come from is Miller.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s call a spade a spade. Even in limited playing time, Miller has failed to make an impact. He\u2019s had one or two rushes on film that remind you why Dallas brought him in. And yet, he hasn\u2019t stacked positive plays, as the Cowboys like to say.<\/p>\n

Lawrence\u2019s snap count going up likely means Miller\u2019s is taking a hit. And if he needs to a avoid a conversation about landing in the inactives, he must show something ASAP. <\/p>\n

That only takes you so far, though. I don\u2019t think Dallas shuts down the Miller project entirely and hands his 22% share to Lawrence, which would push the rookie past 50%.<\/p>\n

Lawrence needs to eat into Ezeiruaku\u2019s snaps, too<\/p>\n

On early downs, the Cowboys\u2019 plan with Gary and Ezeiruaku seems clear. They want Gary to be the plus run defender while Ezeiruaku gets after the quarterback more aggressively.<\/p>\n

Ezeiruaku is winning early in his rushes, but he isn\u2019t finishing. I know we like to say sacks are a quarterback stat. In this case, a high pressure rate paired with a low sack rate isn\u2019t on the quarterback. Ezeiruaku has too many missed opportunities where he\u2019s right there and somehow fails to make the play. A lot of times, I think he\u2019s gaining too much depth and struggles to get back to the passer.<\/p>\n

Gary hasn\u2019t been a premium run defender either. He has failed to set the edge pretty much every week. Until we see otherwise, I\u2019m not convinced Ezeiruaku or Lawrence are strong run defenders right now, so putting the two of them out there on early downs could get the Cowboys blown up in the run game.<\/p>\n

Still, I\u2019d let Lawrence take some of those early-down snaps from Ezeiruaku. On late downs, maybe forget about Gary entirely and let Ezeiruaku and Lawrence attack the quarterback.<\/p>\n

As for Miller, lowering his snaps considerably makes sense. Dallas signed him to a cheap deal, so the money isn\u2019t holding anyone back. Playing him this much just hasn\u2019t worked, which explains why fans keep looking at James Houston on the inactive list and wondering why he isn\u2019t taking Miller\u2019s place.<\/p>\n

\"Play<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Jul\t\t<\/p>\n

Dallas Cowboys News<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tChristian Parker did more than deny move to the coaching booth, as many overlook biggest detail revealed by Dallas Cowboys DC\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator finally commented on where he will be calling the plays from in Week 6 after Jerry Jones claimed he\u2019s moving to the coaching booth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home \/ NFL \/ Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are reworking a struggling defense with the NFC East…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[153,102,113,104,103,88318,15420],"class_list":["post-467700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-american-football","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-malachi-lawrence","tag-von-miller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}