Dion Lewis Calls Reduced Role In 2019 'Tough'
Dion Lewis calls it “a perfect and unique opportunity.”
It might be unique in that the one-year, free agent contract he signed with the New York Giants allows the former Tennessee Titans running back to play close to home. He is a New York native who attended Giants training camp numerous times in his youth.
His new team, though, will ask him to do a lot of the same things the Titans did, which is to say he will be the second option behind Saquon Barkley, the second overall pick in the 2018 draft and a 1,000-yard rusher in each of his first two NFL seasons.
And that, Lewis admits, was not always the perfect situation. As the backup to, or change-of-pace option for Derrick Henry, Lewis was not always a significant contributor on offense, particularly last season when Henry was the NFL’s leading rusher.
"It was tough," Lewis told Giants.com recently. "… I knew the type of runner he is. He's the type of guy that needs to be in the game a lot and gets better with more carries. I understood that, and just did whatever the coaches asked me to do and whatever they thought was best for the team."
In 2018, the first of his two seasons, with the Titans, Lewis did a lot. He set a career-high with 214 touches – 155 carries for 517 yards and 59 receptions for 400 yards. He was on the field for more than 60 percent of the offense’s plays and finished second on the team in rushing yards and receptions.
Last fall, his playing time dipped to 37 percent of the offensive plays. His 209 rushing yards (on 54 attempts) were his fewest in four years. He added just 25 receptions for 165 yards.
The Titans released him last month, which led to his decision to sign with the Giants.
“I think it helped keeping the team mentality first,” Lewis said. “Another thing that helped was Derrick and me had a great relationship. The relationship we had, I wanted nothing but success for him. I was rooting for him. We always helped each other. We were tough on each other. Those two factors made it easy for me to root for him to do well, just because we were close.”
Now he will be rooting for someone else – and looking for a little more time on the field.
