Patriots Rumors: Early vibe is Dion Lewis will play elsewhere
Recent New England Patriots rumors involve running back Dion Lewis, who could be moving on this offseason in free agency.
With NFL Free Agency just weeks away, New England Patriots rumors are beginning to pick up. Coming off another trip to the Super Bowl, the Patriots are going to have a busy offseason.
New England has a ton of pending free agents this offseason. Some are important players who were a part of the weekly game plan, while others were role players or barely saw the field. One of the important players that are hitting the free agent market is running back, Dion Lewis.
Coming into the 2017 season, there was uncertainty surrounding Lewis. With Mike Gillislee and Rex Burkhead signed in free agency, and James White locked into a role, was there room for Lewis? There were talks of the Patriots releasing him, but they decided to hold onto him, and they are lucky they did.
Lewis ended up being a key cog in the Patriots offense. Gillislee and Burkhead both ended up being injured, leaving the door ajar for Lewis to get playing time. He took that opportunity and ran with it, literally.
In the Week 5 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lewis had his coming out party. He led the team with 53 yards rushing and never looked back. His role grew over the next few weeks until he was locked into the early down role.
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His success kept Gillislee cemented to the bench, as he was inactive much of the season. Burkhead had a role when he played, but he was never able to remain healthy enough to stay on the field.
As a result, most of the early down work went to Lewis and he made the most of it. Lewis finished the season with 896 yards on 180 carries. He added 32 receptions for 214 yards with nine total touchdowns.
Having shown the ability to be the lead back, and versatile enough to help in the passing game, Lewis could be a popular commodity on the free agent market. This could be an issue for New England, who do not normally invest much money into their running backs.
It could be a perfect storm of unfortunate events for the Patriots. According to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald, the early vibe is that Lewis will be leaving New England.
"As for the current free agents, Lewis plans to test free agency unless the Patriots offer $10 million guaranteed as part of a three-year deal in the range of $15 million to $18 million. The early vibe is that he’ll be playing elsewhere."
For a team that usually sets the line at $3 million for running backs, it makes sense that early indications are that Lewis will leave.
However, the Patriots know the business as well as anyone. They will allow Lewis to look around and set value before coming back to them. It is what they did with Dont’a Hightower last year, and he ended up returning after flirting with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets.
If Lewis is someone the Patriots deem important enough, he will be back. $10 million guaranteed over three years for a player that provides as much production as Lewis isn’t an overly steep price.
Next: Pros and Cons of Keeping Mike Gillislee
While health has been a concern for Lewis, he was able to play in all 16 regular season games and three postseason games this season. That should play a factor as well into the Patriots decision.