Jourdan Lewis was drafted in the 3rd round (#92 overall) by the Dallas Cowboys.
Lewis had a 1st or 2nd round grade in a lot of places, but off-the-field troubles (a.k.a. a domestic violence charge) forced him to drop some. I still don’t like the Cowboys, but with Charlton and now Lewis, they’re becoming more tolerable. From a talent standpoint, Lewis was a favorite of mine when he was in Ann Arbor.
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Big-time win for the Cowboys. I thought Lewis was an early second round guy. This team was already close, and this draft will only help
GO BLUE
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McShay was beyond effusive in his praise of Lewis. Saying something like, “Been the best player on the board for the last 30 picks.”
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I find it hard to believe that Lewis dropped because of off field issues. I think him getting beat by a few meh WR options in college (like Burbridge) played a bigger role in this. He was’nt quite as dominant as many M fans seemed to think.
Regardless, I think the Cowboys got a great value. Lewis is a football player and while he might not be a lock-down guy at the NFL level he should be a very good nickelback at least.
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I find it hard to believe that you find it hard to believe that Lewis dropped because of off-field issues. He has a jury trial coming up this summer, Joe Mixon dropped to the middle of the 2nd round, etc. Lewis received positive reviews from scouts, is a former All-American, and was one of the top few cornerbacks to PFF…but he was taken near the end of the 3rd round.
For whatever reason – maybe because I’ve criticized Stribling – you seem to have taken a purposefully negative stance on Lewis.
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Compare the situations of Clark (2nd Round pick) and Lewis.
Lewis has an otherwise impeccable record and the backstory hints in one direction, while Clark’s parallel situation has a backstory that is entirely malicious. I’m not a judge, jury, or any other authority on these matters but if the NFL can look past the heinous story in Clark’s past I think they can look past Lewis’. Lewis is adamant the charges are fabrications and is going to court to fight them. Clark plead guilty, etc.
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Let’s not compare Clark and Lewis, since they were drafted two years apart. Let’s compare players who are draft-eligible in 2017. Adam Schefter reported that 28/32 teams removed Joe Mixon from their board entirely.
Your statement basically says that Jourdan Lewis would have been drafted at #92, whether he was facing a jury trial for domestic violence or whether his record was still impeccable. I disagree strongly, and I think evidence points in a different direction.
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I see more comparable to Clark than Mixon.
Mixon was caught on video – which has a big issue in public relations and makes it hard for fans to buy into arguments about doing our due dilligence on character, etc. And Mixon STILL got drafted.
The evidence says that NFL teams will look past off field discretions, time and time again.
You can dismiss Clark all you want. It happened. He got kicked off the team, pled guility and there were nasty quotes all over the media. None of that is true for Lewis.
Clark didn’t drop for what he did or didn’t do. Neither did Lewis.
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You might see it as being more comparable to Clark, but he was drafted two years ago. Things have changed since then. There’s more of an emphasis on domestic violence, and people have seen the backlash from Greg Hardy, etc. You’re avoiding the topic, really. You said he didn’t drop due to off-field issues, so you’re saying he was going to be the #92 pick, regardless. THIS YEAR, Joe Mixon was taken off of 28/32 draft boards, and Gareon Conley – a potential top-10 pick – dropped to #23 overall (IIRC). Are you standing by that statement that Lewis didn’t drop at all due to off-field issues when two other guys clearly did?
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A lot of people are “potentially” taken a lot higher than they get taken. You called Wormley a potential 1st rounder and his character is as sound as it comes.
The Mixon situation is the college version of Ray Rice, but with an added racial component. Comparing this to Lewis is a huge stretch, from the NFL perspective certainly, if not the human perspective. There is no plausible deniability for that video.
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I do not think the national view on domestic violence has changed much in 2 years. It was a problem then it is a problem now. 20 years yes.
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OK, that could be an exaggeration. Maybe there are teams out there that don’t bother to dig into allegation details and just take situations like Clark’s and Lewis’ as equivalent (even though they are probably not remotely the same). Let me rephrase:
IF Lewis fell for off-field reasons, it was almost certainly not very far.
More likely is that his unexceptional combine numbers and size kept him out of the first few rounds, much like fellow college standout Desmond King — who was also a fantastic college player.
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I’m not negative on Lewis. Great Michigan player. Best CB we’ve had since Leon Hall and maybe Charles Woodson.
I’ve spent the last 2 plus years praising our secondary while people were fretting over battles like Stribling/Clark and Hill/Thomas I was singing all these guys’ praises.
I’m disagreeing with the dichotomous narrative that Lewis and Peppers were great and the other were just guys. Lewis and Peppers were great – but had holes in their games – just like the other members of Michigan’s elite secondary.
I’m also expecting a major drop off in 2017. While you seem to think Lewis and company can be pretty easily replaced.
So yeah, I’m going to disagree with your take on my opinions here.
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I haven’t said that Lewis can be easily replaced. You have me confused with someone else.
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Lewis played on last year’s defense. He is gone. You have said that the defense shouldn’t fall off much.
So, either you think Lewis can be easily replaced or you think the other departing players (mostly all conference bets grading out well) can be improved upon enough to offset the downgrade at CB1.
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I think you have me confused with umbig11, who said that initially…and then he backed off that statement. I don’t think the defense will be what it was in 2016, but I also don’t think it will fall back to the middle of the pack. I expect it to be somewhere in the top 15-20, at least. Either way, I’ve never said and don’t believe that Jourdan Lewis will be easily replaced.
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Lewis v But ridge was a classic, but Lewis won that battle
http://www.maizenbrew.com/2015/10/21/9578925/2015-michigan-football-film-focus-defense-vs-michigan-state-jourdan-lewis-aaron-burbridge-cook
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*Burbridge
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http://www.msuspartans.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/aaron_burbridge_810657.html
165 career catches is far from “meh”.
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He had a good career but hasn’t done anything to get you excited at the NFL level and was a 6th round pick. The NFL didn’t see Burbridge (or Cook for that matter) as the elite players that Michigan fans have painted them to be.
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That’s debatable. MSU won the game. Burbridge had a ton of yards and MSU’s offense was pretty much just throwing to him/at Lewis.
I understand the Michigan side of the argument. I understand that Lewis made a lot of plays and had a lot of PBUs. I understand that Cousins and Burbridge were an excellent college duo. But the bottom line is the bottom line.
MSU’s best option was throwing at Lewis and doing so was enough to win. They saw Lewis as the weakest link (or at least the best matchup). While I’ve continuously agreed that Lewis is a better player than Stribling I do wonder if Stribling could have done better than getting beat 6 teams.
In the aftermath of that game Michigan fans were talking about how excellent Burbridge is. Turns out that was mostly excuse-making for Lewis. Ohio State, Iowa, and Alabama all kept Burbridge in check without much issue.
That MNB analysis is pretty weak because CBs should be winning these matchups more than 50% of the time. A CB’s job is to cover – each time they don’t it’s a failure.
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