With the 2019 NFL Draft now behind us and nothing to really look forward to until training camp kicks off sometime in mid July, there isn’t a lot of the news to discuss regarding the Dallas Cowboys. Well, that is as long as players are able to keep themselves out of trouble between now and then.
Unfortunately Cowboys Nation, we are kind of in a limbo right now. All we can really do is speculate about the current roster and what it may look like Week 1 when Dallas once again faces off against the New York Giants in the season opener. That is exactly what I plan on doing today.
With the current state of the Dallas Cowboys roster and the depth they have at each position, there a lot of good players who could find themselves playing for a different team in 2019. One such player is Jourdan Lewis, who has seen his playing time dramatically decrease since the arrival of Kris Richard.
To say that Jordan Lewis has already seen highs and lows in his short time in the NFL would probably be an understatement. As a rookie he started seven games for the Dallas Cowboys and played 70% of the defensive snaps in 2017. He was expected to compete for a starting job in 2018, but that all changed with the hiring of Kris Richard.
With Richard as the Cowboys new Defensive Backs Coach and Passing Game Coordinator, Lewis saw his playing time dramatically decrease in his second year in Dallas. His playing time took a huge nosedive in 2018. He started only one game and played only 18% of the defensive snaps last season. That’s not quite what he was hoping after getting off to a good start as a rookie.
Unfortunately, Jourdan Lewis just didn’t fit the prototype Kris Richard prefers in his cornerbacks. Richard likes his CBs at least 6 foot tall with an arm length of approximately 32 inches. At 5’10”, Lewis doesn’t quite measure up height wise, but he falls just under the threshold in length with 31 5/8 inch arms. Apparently though, that’s just not close enough.
Lewis is at best fourth on the depth chart right now amongst the cornerbacks currently on the Dallas Cowboys roster. He has two years remaining on his rookie contract and without a clearly defined role heading in to the 2019 season his future in Dallas looks a little murky.
If the Dallas Cowboys, more specifically Kris Richard, aren’t you going to use Jourdan Lewis much moving forward, they should go ahead and move on and get some return on their investment. He should have value around the league, because he does have starting potential for a team that doesn’t place as much value on height/length like the Cowboys do now.
Unfortunately, this is just one of those situations where the new regime places value on different attributes than the old regime did when Lewis was drafted. Despite his talent, he just doesn’t fit the mold Richard prefers in his cornerbacks, which is why I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s playing somewhere else in 2019.
