Why Jourdan Lewis Saw the Jaguars As His Best Landing Spot

What drew Jourdan Lewis away from the Dallas Cowboys and to the Jacksonville Jaguars?

Dec 15, 2019; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis (27) celebrates a sack in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-Imagn Images | Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

One of the biggest free agents the Jacksonville Jaguars added this week knows what he wants to do before anything else: be an agent of culture change.

Jaguars cornerback Jourdan Lewis signed the largest contract for a nickel cornerback in NFL history this week, with the Jaguars showing their faith and aggressiveness in obtaining him after a standout year with the Dallas Cowboys.

After years of Lewis facing free agency and eventually going back to the Cowboys at each turn, Lewis saw a change of his own in how this year's free agency came to him.

"It was actually the smoothest free agency that I've been through," Lewis said on Thursday.

"So, last few years has been, you know, like some days, weeks that I, you know, we, you know, going back and forth with teams. So I think I feel like this is the smoothest free agency I've been through."

For Lewis, the motiviation to joining the Jaguars so quickly on the first day of legal tampering was clear. He recognized change was in the air in Jacksonville, and he wanted to be part of it.

No stranger to regime change while he was with the Cowboys, Lewis knows what it takes to build a culture under a new coaching staff. And that is exactly what he sets out to do in Jacksonville.

"We were talking about, you know, just building a culture, you know, and being a cornerstone of that rebuild. And I've always wanted to be a guy to, you know, be known for that, you know, be known for culture, and be known to change culture," Lewis said,

"So I love a good competition, and I love a good challenge. So I feel like this was the perfect place for me to go out there and show that I belong in this NFL and belong to be, known as one of the guys that you know, changed the culture."

Lewis has been one of the best nickel cornerbacks in the NFL for much of the last decade. Lewis, who turns 30 in August, was a third-round pick out of Michigan in the 2017 NFL Draft and quickly became one of the faces of the Cowboys' defense.

Lewis spent eight years with the Cowboys, appearing in 115 regular season games and four playoff games. In his tenure with the Cowboys, Lewis recorded 10 interceptions, 44 pass breakups, 9.5 sacks, 19 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles, nine fumble recoveries, 386 combined tackles, and 275 solo tackles.

Lewis appeared in 16 games for the Cowboys during the 2024 season, recording one interception, eight pass breakups, one forced fumble, one sack, three tackles for loss, and 71 total tackles.

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