Let’s cheer for Dion Lewis

Yesterday marked the 2016 debut of Dion Lewis on a football field. About seven months after getting surgery to repair a tragically torn ACL, Lewis is back practicing for the New England Patriots and it’s great to see.

Here’s a look at Lewis’ footwork in a running backs drill yesterday:

What a sight. Lewis was the most exciting story from the first half of the Patriots’ 2015 season, which was a pretty great time to be a Pats fan. The Patriots didn’t lose a game when Lewis was in the lineup, benefitting from the Pitt product’s many highlight reel plays (like this one).

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And then Lewis got chopped down in Week 9 against the Washington Redskins. The Patriots’ offense was never as dynamic from that point on, and while part of that can be attributed to the sheer number of injuries to offensive weapons, Lewis was just as instrumental in the complexity of that offense in the first half of 2015 as anyone.

Now, it should be noted that Lewis did commit an uncharacteristic drop out of a cut yesterday:

But don’t read too much into that. Lewis is a human being, and human beings drop passes on their first day back at practices.

Instead, just sit back and smile at the thought of Lewis catching screen passes one-handed, juking and slipping past three defenders and diving for a touchdown.

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Frankly, the Patriots need Lewis in a major way this season. James White is fully capable of catching passes out of the backfield himself, but Lewis makes the Patriots’ offense scary. Throw a healthy tight end duo of Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett into the equation along with Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, and you have five outstanding targets for Tom Brady to choose from.

Let’s cheer for Dion Lewis, everybody.