Cowboys Emotional Goodbye: DeMarcus Lawrence 'Thank You' Letter To 'Brother'

Writes Tank to Tyrone: "Now, I’m not going to lie. Your retirement? You not being around like you’ve always been? For me? It’s gonna be rough. It hurts. A lot.''

FRISCO - "That’s a heck of a start to a friendship right there,'' Demarcus Lawrence writes in his goodbye/thank-you note to now-retiring Dallas Cowboys teammate Tyrone Crawford. "I still get goosebumps thinking about it.''

Lawrence tells a terrific background story in The Players' Tribune about the birth of a friendship back at Boise State, as he writes it, "before Dallas. Before we became Cowboys. Boise, 2011.''

Tank's reflections on his first meeting with the Broncos' "big man on campus'' and then on the growth of their brotherhood from Boise State to the Dallas Cowboys are truly precious - not only to the two men involved, of course, but also, we think, to Cowboys fans interested in the inner-workings of a locker room.

Writes Tank: "Now, I’m not going to lie. Your retirement? You not being around like you’ve always been? For me? It’s gonna be rough. It hurts. A lot.''

Crawford spent eight seasons in Dallas as the "big daddy'' of the D-line, his leadership and mentorship helping many - including, of course, Lawrence, who has emerged as a $20 million "big man on campus'' himself in Dallas.

Crawford announced his retirement at the end of March, but Lawrence's writings will surely help his legacy last ... maybe even as long as the friendship between the two defensive linemen lasts.

Tank makes that point in his "To My Brother, Tyrone Crawford'' "thank you'' to his former teammate (which you can read here) with the signature line in his letter reading, "I love you, and I've got your back for as long as we live. T&D forever."

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