Patriots running back Dion Lewis is expected to request a three-year contract in the range of $18MM with $10MM guaranteed in order to pass up free agency, according to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald. Lewis isn’t interested in offering a hometown discount to New England, and the “early vibe” is Lewis won’t re-sign with the Patriots, as Howe reports in a separate piece.
A pact that comes with a $6MM annual value would place Lewis comfortably within the top-10 running back deals, while a $10MM guarantee would tie Lewis for sixth among runners (discounting rookie contracts). The Patriots typically don’t land in that range for running backs, and have usually resided in the $3MM per year scope. Still, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com expects New England to keep a dialogue open with Lewis before the free agent period opens on March 14.
The Patriots have a cavalcade of running backs on their roster, but Lewis was the best of the bunch last year. The 27-year-old Lewis posted the most outstanding season of his career in 2017, toting the ball 180 times for 896 yards (both team highs), managing 214 yards on 32 receptions, and scoring 10 total touchdowns (including one in the return game). Lewis ranked first in Football Outsiders‘ DYAR metric, sixth in broken tackles, and sixth in Pro Football Focus‘ pass-blocking grades.
Aside from Lewis, other New England backs scheduled to hit free agency include Rex Burkhead and Brandon Bolden. At present, the Patriots only have ~$13MM in salary cap space, so retaining any of their free agents may be tough. However, the club can easily increase their cap room to more than $30MM by cutting player such as Martellus Bennett, Dwayne Allen, Mike Gillislee, David Harris, and Alan Branch.
Most if not all of the five will be cut or restructured. My guess is Bennett comes back at a lower salary if he is interested in returning for another year, and the others are cut.
Agreed
Yup.
Agreed
If the Pats don’t sign Lewis and if the 9ers let Hyde walk I would like to see them get Lewis. I however really hope the 9ers bring back Hyde. With Jimmy G and a better O line Hyde will have a huge year. But gotta did that line. If they don’t get a deal done with Hyde I think Lewis would fit perfectly in the 9ers system because Kyle likes to use two backs and Breida mixed with with Lewis as the main back would work well. I know Bill doesn’t like to give big contracts to RBs but I feel like he should give this guy what he wants though.
Lewis is due for another injury. Let some other team pay for his extended time on the IR! Thanks for the memories Dion. Good bye, and good luck!
Seems like yesterday he was expendable in Philly and dealt to Cleveland where he did nothing, now he’s dictating this price? Good luck Dion!
Pats only team to stick with him. Some loyalty.
Haha the Patriots and loyalty. They are the only team known for not paying players.
Unless you’re at the top of your class like Gronk and Gillisie.
And Aaron Hernandez he got paid.
Makes too much sense for the Titans. Chip it.
Pats opted to go for finesse over force when they let Blount walk and signed Gilessle and Burkhead but the former didn’t work and latter was too injury prone so now you’re going to let Lewis walk too? Just sign him to an incentive deal already and start plugging the many other holes instead of creating a new one.
Agreed