As free agency approaches, sorting through what we know about the Patriots and RB Dion Lewis

Here’s what I know about the Patriots, Dion Lewis, and where everything stands as free agency looms.


Lewis is a practical guy. Having been around the league for a long time and having played for multiple franchises, the veteran understands the business of professional football. This isn't his first rodeo. I communicated with Lewis’ camp on Wednesday, and while they didn’t say everything was great, one source told me he wouldn’t say Lewis was necessarily upset with things. Instead, he indicated the running back simply understands this is how business is done. “(The Patriots) want him back, but are not prepared to outbid others to get him back,” is the way one source close to him described the current state of the situation to me. Basically, I don’t doubt the fact that after what Lewis accomplished, particularly over the last year-plus, he would be a little peeved. But he’s also self-aware enough to know the reality of the situation.

Unless you’re Kevin Faulk, the Patriots show no sentimentality with their running backs. No team cycles through running backs like New England — Bill Belichick has never had a back rush for at least 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons, dating all the way back to his time with the Browns. The Patriots are one of the only teams in the league who can say they’ve had seven different backs lead the team in rushing over the course of the last 10 years, including Lewis, who ended 2018 with a career-high 896 yards on the ground. Simply put, this is what they do when it comes to their backfield. The one exception was Faulk, who (by his own admission) probably hung around a year too long at the end of his career.

It’s a good draft for running backs. Frankly, given the fact that Lewis is an unrestricted free agent who is facing a good payday, and the fact that this is considered to be a better-than-average draft class when it comes to the running game, none of this should come as a surprise. (We touched on that running back group here.) After all, it’s been four years since they last drafted a running back (James White). Some would say they’re due. If Lewis is indeed gone, this would push running back up the priority list just a bit, depending on what happens with Rex Burkhead and Mike Gillislee. (And you cynics can dismiss the idea, but it’s important to note in the context of this conversation that if Lewis does leave, Gillislee would be the best between-the-tackles option left on the depth chart, which could mean he’d be back for the second year of his two-year deal.)

When we're measuring Lewis' value, it's important to take into account his special teams work. Lewis had that infamous muffed kick return in the 2016 playoffs against Houston. ("A good day for ball security, eh Dion?") But he brought some stability to what was a very unstable position the last year-plus in New England, and he played a big role in helping the 2017 Patriots land at No. 3 in Rick Gosselin's highly-esteemed special teams rankings. Lewis was fourth in the league in average kick return with a 24.8 mark this past season, and was one of just seven guys to take one all the way back for a touchdown in 2017. We can talk a lot about how fungible running backs are in the New England system, but it's also important to note that Lewis has great value beyond what he brings to the offense.

So what happens? My feeling is that this all ends with Lewis signing elsewhere. Not for a mega-deal — there’s his injury history and market to consider. But there will be a decent demand for his services. He’s a smart guy who had the best year of his career at the best possible time. Because of that, I believe this will be a fairly quick process that should be wrapped up by the end of the first few days of free agency. I've maintained all along that it'll be somewhere in the same neighborhood as the deal that Gio Bernard signed with the Bengals a few years back for a few reasons, not the least of which is the fact that they have relatively similar career arcs.