STRENGTHS
Lewis is a pure “hit you in the mouth” Safety. He has excellent straight-line speed and burst to the ball. Lewis is smart and does have the cover skills to be used in the slot against those bigger slot receivers. He shows excellent leadership skills on the field communicating and directing other players before the snap of the ball. Lewis loves coming from his deep safety position and shutting down the running game with intimidating tackles. Lewis is a marauder, with the mentality that everything in front of him is enemy territory and he needs to seek and destroy them. He makes running backs not want to run, and pass catches not want to catch a pass and does it all without getting called for too many penalties.
CONCERNS
Yes, yes, yes, Lewis will get called for some penalties during the season and you will have to live with that if you select him but remember this, what is penalized during the season seems to disappear in the playoffs. Lewis has good cover skills and athletic cover talent but as soon as a player gets behind him he panics and loses control of his athletic talent. He seems to lose his balance and his legs tighten up and in general, he becomes “jelly-like” trying to defend. Lewis is not afraid to get beat he just hates it.
BOTTOM LINE: 2.14
Lewis is smart but his style of play makes me believe that he has to gain more bulk without losing his pure speed to stay on the field and be productive. This would help teams decide how they are going to use Lewis, up near the line of scrimmage as a hybrid S/LB or as a pure deep safety with some “in the box” responsibilities, or develop his confidence and use him more as a cover hybrid Corner/Safety. No matter how you use him, he will become a leader for your defense and an enforcer, making the other team’s players pray the ball doesn’t come their way for fear Lewis will make them regret it.
