Dion Lewis Drawing Trade Interest

[childofpudding]

1 hour ago, mcmurtry86 said:

His fumble was the reason that the Texans were able to cut it to a 1 point Patriots lead.

On the drive where the Pats pushed the lead to 2 scores, Lewis had 1 run for 4 yards. For the entire 3rd quarter, he had 2 rushes for 8 yards. In the 4th quarter, he had 5 runs for 18 yards, 1 TD and 1 Fumble (recovered by Thuney). His TD was a 1 yard run after the Logan Ryan INT set the team up inside the 10 yard line. When the game was close and the outcome in doubt (in large part due to his fumble), he put up a whole 7 rushes for 26 yards. Not exactly a superb performance.

Yeah, he had a role in getting the Pats their 1st quarter points (he did have both TD's) but saying he was key to winning that game or that performance shows that he was playing well is really misguided. He looked like a shell of his 2015 self. The KR TD was his best play of the year, and probably the only play he made that White couldn't/wouldn't have, but he negated that by fumbling inside the 10 on the very next time he touched the ball

Ultimately, I want the Pats to keep him for now given their current depth issues. But this is his 7th year in the NFL and he's had one six game stretch of above replacement level play and that was 2 years and a major knee surgery ago. Lewis, if he's at last year's level, is less valuable than White and Burkhead, without a doubt. He can return kicks better than those guys, but he's not a very good KR (21.2 career average) and his durability and ball security issues make him a poor fit for the go-to KR.

I already pulled back my claim that he was key to the win, but saying he almost single handedly lost the game is ridiculous. On his receiving TD, he made a nice move to get by his man before scoring. The return TD was obviously solid. And while his running TD was only for one yard, remember that he had a decent run before that to set it up. And let's be clear - no one ran well against the Texans that day. Blount looked like Blount, I thought Lewis looked better. I mean, aside from Edelman, which offensive skill player could you say had a definitively better than Lewis? Maybe Hogan?

Obviously we disagree on how Lewis has done since coming back from injury. That's fine. I see a player that still has the ability to make the first person miss, particularly in the passing game. Saying he looked like a shell of his 2015 self is silly to me, but different eyes see different things, I guess. And like I said before, it's his versatility that is valuable. I hope he regains the mojo he had in 2015 and gets more snaps this season.