When the New Orleans Saints signed unrestricted free agent cornerback Keenan Lewis to a, $26 million deal on Thursday, March 14, the group separated a period of silence nearly not known to the operation in the free-agency period, at the very least since Sean Payton came to town. In bringing Lewis homea'he is a native of New Orleansa'the Saints produced an equally unusual relocate selecting quality over quantity. Money was simply thrown by the past few offseasons, Mickey Loomis at whoever was gleaming and bright, with seemingly little regard for whether the incoming person can actually play effective and efficient football for the Saints. That thinking generated the Shaun Rogers and Aubrayo Franklin debacles. In what appears opposite, but is really caused by the same kind of reason, key players such as Tracy Portera'of whom Lewis resembles in lots of regardsa'and Robert Meachem were allowed to abandon via free agency last offseason. Since that time, the group acquired veteran limited end Benjamin Watsona'another transfer which reeks of qualitya'and introduced veteran part Nnamdi Asomugha for a call to please new defensive planner Rob Ryan. But the move at question is the initial one made in the free-agency period to get Lewis. In deciding whether the Lewis signing is a great move or not, there's much to think about. Lewisa age, size, speed, approach, production, durability and system match are integrated factors to consider before arriving at one last conclusion. In my journey to learn what type of baseball player Lewis is, I quickly turned mesmerized and wondered why I did not have him on my radar getting into the offseason. Biography Keenan Lewis was a fine player at Oregon State who slipped through the cracks in the NFL Draft. Going to the Steelers helped him to understand and develop the NFL game.Tom Hauck/Getty Pictures Keenan Lewis was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers 96thAoverall (the ultimate choice of the 3rd round) in this year's draft out of Oregon State. The team stashed Lewis on the counter for the majority of his first two times in the category, as the Steelers do with the majority of their draft picks. The Steelersa approach to drafting and player development is beyond guru, though, since it causes them to seldom miss on a player. The staff knows exactly what itas searching for in a possibility. The franchise then further develops that person until heas ready to lead, where place he's ready to be a strong, or better than average starter. Lewis did not formally turn into a beginning part for the Steelers until his next year, (2011) but he did perform in every game. In 2012, Lewis had his breakout seasona'starting all 16 games and standing well above the remainder of the packed cornerback package in a category that now considers passes on over 60 percent of plays from scrimmage. on the period though an interception wasn't recorded by him, his 23 pass breakups proved he was one of the few in the category who can reasonably claim the title of ashutdown corner.a The 2013 season will be begun by the New Orleans native as a 27-year-old veteran with limited miles accumulated in the league. His plight should remind Saints fans of Jabari Greer, who came with a similar pedigree when he closed with the Saints in this year's offseason. Unlike Greer, though, Lewis is really a fairly big part. At 6a0a, 198 pounds, he's quickly the biggest place the Saints possessa'though if the group is able to influence Nnamdi Asomugha to sign, Lewis might drop that name as rapidly as he obtained it. His size is used by lewis to his advantage on the subject as a physical part. It didn't simply take four games to discover that quality. I observed four, none the less, to make certain I had an accurate grip on Lewisa abilities. Below is a more in-depth scouting survey, in line with the All-22 video. Games Watched: Week 1 at Denver, Week 5 versus. Philadelphia, Week 9 at New York GiantsAand Week 15 at Houston Person Coverage Keenan Lewis is not great. This video against the World Champion Ravens, though, shows his physicality and man-to-man popularity with great baseball skills. It is clear that Lewis feels one of his greatest advantages as a corner is his size and physicality. As a result, he likes to get up in the face of the opposing recipient from the instant the two line up across the line of scrimmage from one another. Frequently Lewis will quickly get his hands on his opponent upon the ball being snapped. He is unafraid to beat him around, hold him and grab the receiver (in the NFL most anything goes up to five meters). However, he is athletic and cautious enough to not lose his balance and get trashed of the playa'in four games, he only had it happen one time. That harmony is one reason heas able to keep his feet, swivel his hips and run with the recipient. Most often he plays a slight path process, hoping to tempt the quarterback into a risky place. Despite that technique he never loses the radio and usually remains constantly in place to produce a play on a throw intended for his person. Lewis was asked a few times to play the slot phone, although the situation was not faced by him often. Because of his quick feet and smooth hips, Lewis seemed every bit the section of a successful dime place. If it isnat clear already, Lewis likes to play on the edge. In other words, he gets as near to the acceptable distinct physical contact as you possibly can without being flagged for pass interference. This is his modusAoperandiAon his way is passed by most attempted. He was flagged several times in the four games, but he may have easily been required five more charges. Itas only the nature of the way he represents the positioning. It's also the main reason he'd those 23 travels defensed. Therefore is the fact that he's excellent ball skills in man-to-man insurance, when he is constantly in place to create a play on the ball. His only detriment is he will often get turned around when in comfortable man coverage. He is able to be defeated by double-moves because his eyes start to look at the receiveras legs or head as opposed to the belly as heas been shown. Grade: A- Zone Insurance While Lewis is one of the best man-to-man sides in the NFL, he is not one of the best in zone protection. He simply lacks the instincts to read the quarterbackas eyes and close on the soccer easily. He also tends to study the radio nearest his region, rather than reading the whole of the course strategy. Ergo heall take a receiver who is running into another defenderas zone, thus leaving a receiver spacious in the zone he left empty. The fact remains that playing Lewis in region protection is just a waste of his skill. He did improve as the year advanced and begun to show a capability to when it absolutely was launched fly to the baseball remain in his sector and then. But besides to give an alternative look to the offense occasionally, it makes little sense to ask Lewis to play zone coverage. Grade: C+ Playing the Run It's a misnomer to believe that a team's function safety would depend only on leading eight. If which were correct, Roman Harper wouldn't have been settled as handsomely as he was three offseasons before. Harper, obviously, made his living based on becoming an ain-the-boxa security. Equally, Jabari Greer became a fine tackler and hard side corner previously few months before abandoning some of that identification after suffering from accidents all season long in 2012. The point is this: Lewisa value is enhanced by his efforts in the function game. What he does well is defined the border. He has been well coached to help keep his outside shoulder outside. By doing so, the runner can not get to the sideline and is therefore forced back to the inside of the security. The edge is really attacked by lewis when he is singled absent in sector insurance with out a receiver to his side. He comes flying in the way a safety would. It's nice to visit a place perform the function so strongly. However, he's not the very best tackler the world has ever seen. In the open field, he tends to lose his balance and tries to tackle together with his torso in the place of deteriorating. Also close to the sidelines he tends to lunge for tackles in place of breaking down and driving through the ball-carrier. Nonetheless, Lewis can be an aggressive player contrary to the run who's unafraid to lower his shoulder and make a hard, yet safe hit. He's unlikely to ever face an excellent or suspension for a hit because proper technique is used by him. However, because of his size and general physicality he may hit some guy out cold. Thatas an ideal combination. Grade: B Other Facets and Results Otto Greule Jr/Getty Pictures For a lot of the offseason I'd been clamoring for the Saints to take into account drafting University of Washington cornerback Desmond Trufant for two main reasons: 1. He's a smart little person who teetered the distinct confident and brash. My argument is that that's precisely the sort of guy a team should desire to have the cornerback situation. A fast view of the category shows the most successful people at the career have that kind of perspective. 2. Trufant excelled as an actual man-to-man corner who beat the snot out of the opposite receiver at the type of scrimmage, clutched and grabbed and was unafraid of probably gaining a pass interference penaltya'instead concerning himself only with not letting the receiver to get the pass. Apparently, Lewis matches that description to a T. In reality, it is almost like the two would be the same specific person. Given that the Saints have received Lewis, my dream first-round draft pick would be Trufant to couple with Lewis, and the staff can become Seattle East. They'll haveAwith two major, physical sides who shut opposite offenses down less with a dominant move dash (though based on free agency it seems Seattle will try improve in that next year) as well region and more with popularity on the rear end. Even when that does not occur, it seems clear that the Saints made an extremely wise investment in getting the hometown kid, Lewis, for about $5 million per yeara'including a paltry $2.25 million from the top in 2013, based on Spotrac.com. The Saints are going to perform mainly man-to-man techniques in the secondary making use of their corners, as i stated in this specific article right around the announcement of Rob Ryan becoming the Saintsa defensive planner. Ryan will be hostile and trust his corners (hence the main reason he's pushing for Asomughaa'a person he trusts). As already explained above, Lewis is a person Ryan will learn quickly to trust together to carry up on the back end because of his excellent skills to lock down nearly every recipient he lines up against. No matter how great the corners are, help will be required from the protection jobs, and the front eight must put some pressure on opposing quarterbacks. as you of Mickey Loomisa most useful offseason acqusitions if these businesses are successful, Lewis find yourself. Simply put, often quality is better than quantity. Overall Grade: A-
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