Once upon a time, Cornerback Jourdan Lewis was a star at Michigan who had first-round talent written all over him. The former two-time First-Team All-American would see his stock plummet, though, with a domestic violence accusation hanging over his head. Nonetheless, the Dallas Cowboys selected him 92nd overall in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
His career got off to a great start in his rookie campaign. He totaled 54 tackles (48 solo), 10 passes defended and an interception. Unfortunately for Lewis, when the Cowboys hired Kris Richard as the Passing Game Coordinator and Defensive Backs Coach in 2018 he became the forgotten man in the secondary. The architect of the infamous “Legion of Boom” in Seattle that produced stars such as Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, and Kam Chancellor likes tall, physical and rangy corners. At 5’10 and 195 pounds, Lewis simply didn’t fit Richard’s vision of what his secondary should look like.
He would only manage one start in 15 games and registered a pedestrian 12 tackles in 2018. Lewis caught a break recently, though, when starting nickel corner Anthony Brown left the Cowboys Week 6 matchup against the New York Jets with a hamstring injury. Lewis, who obviously had been chomping at the bit to make his presence felt didn’t waste any time reminding everyone how talented he is.
Lewis would not only register four tackles but he intercepted Sam Darnold inside the 10 in the third quarter. As we all know, turnovers have been the achilles heel for the entire defensive unit for years so to see Lewis come in and get one in a matter of minutes was encouraging.
With Brown ruled out against the Philadelphia Eagles, Lewis would get another shot to show what kind of a player he is, and once again, he didn’t disappoint. In a dominant 37-10 win, Lewis had four tackles and his first NFL sack. Simply put, Lewis makes plays whenever he’s on the field.
It’s not like Brown is a bad corner or anything, he’s not at all. In fact, he could start for a lot of teams in the NFL as their top corner or be a solid number two. However, in 2017 he was benched in favor of Chidobe Awuzie in Week 13 and remained a backup for the rest of the season. With this latest setback, Lewis could find himself with a permanent role, that is if Richard can look past his height and focus on who’s the best option to put on the field out of Lewis and Brown.
There are several reasons I feel Lewis is a better option than Brown as the lead nickel corner. For one thing, Lewis is a ball-hawking corner and you can never have enough of those is this passing era of NFL football. Brown is the only corner out of the team’s top four with more career interceptions than Lewis, and they have all had significantly more playing time than he has over the last three years.
Also, he’s a sure tackler as 68 of his 77 career tackles (88%) are of the solo variety. A corner who can create turnovers and tackle well is a defensive coordinator’s dream come true. Lastly, Lewis can play in the slot or on the outside. Position flex is a very valuable tool to have as a defensive back and makes it easier to fill a hole in case of an unfortunate injury in your secondary.
So when Brown is healthy enough to return what does Richard do? Will he insert him back into the starting lineup? Does he realize Lewis is the better player and keep him on the field? This will be an interesting decision and one that a lot of fans will definitely be keeping an eye on.
