Dallas Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis is coming off the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and started a ramp-up phase, returning to practice on Wednesday. He suffered a Lisfranc (foot) injury in Week 7 against the Lions last season, making it over 300 days since he could last play.
Head coach Mike McCarthy says Lewis is ahead of schedule with his rehab, but there is no timeline for when he can return.
Jourdan Lewis on His Health and Recovery
Lewis said that Britt Brown, the team’s athletic trainer/director of rehabilitation, told him he was getting off the PUP list and contributed his early return to Brown and his staff’s work.
Lewis said that Brown wanted to be the first person to tell him the news, and it was good sharing that moment with him because they had grown close over the years.
His teammates and coaches “made all the difference” when he was down mentally.
“When I was down, all of the coaches came to see me. [Dan Quinn], [Al Harris], [Joe Witt], those guys came to see me, and it just made all the difference. Just to see that you know, they were fighting for me. It made it even more easy for me to go out there and perform and do the stuff that Britt [Brown] had me doing,” said Lewis.
The cornerback said he feels better than he has in a while, but it’s still to be determined if he will take the field during Week 1 of the regular season in less than two weeks.
“The tough part is over for real, but it’s honestly just seeing if I can go out there and, and perform it, my best ability against somebody else because I can do all the breaks and cut and stuff like that. But it’s just now, you know, getting back in the fold, you know, actually playing football against people,” said Lewis.
He said getting back into football as far as his techniques and feeling how he did them before the injury is the biggest challenge for him right now.
There was never a time that he doubted if he could return to the game, but he wondered about his timeline.
Lewis on Rejoining the Dallas Cowboys’ Defense
The cornerback said if it were up to him, he would have been ready for training camp to get experience with his team.
“It definitely is tough just seeing, seeing everybody do, you know, what you’re supposed to be out there doing and feeling like you’re kind of incapable of doing it. That’s definitely the hard part, seeing the guys going out there flying around and knowing you’re incapable of doing that right now. So, I’m glad that that part is over, and now it’s just getting ready for the season,” said Lewis.
He talked about the defense being together and under Dan Quinn for three years and adding more strong players to their roster as time passed.
“[I] want to be back out there and experience, you know, what I feel like would be one of the best defenses in the league, and hopefully, we can be historic. So, that’s what we’ve been aiming for, and hopefully, I can be a part of that,” Lewis explained.
He mentioned how amazing it felt for him to be part of the defense now after being part of it when it wasn’t the team’s strong suit, saying that it “feels good to be appreciated” as a whole.
Lewis on the Cowboys’ Secondary
As for what Lewis thinks about the Cowboys’ secondary with Trevon Diggs, Stephon Gilmore, and DaRon Bland, he says this is the most talent he has seen.
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“This is the most time I’ve seen, man. A lot of people say they have talent in the NFL, but this is a very talented group, and I mean, we all push each other, and I know that we can all make the plays, and our defense is set up for us to make plays,” said Lewis who mentioned that he feels that the secondary can be “extremely special.”
