Jourdan Lewis talks about the Lions, competitive fire and setting the tone for the Cowboys

FRISCO, Texas – It was 2017, and Jourdan Lewis was entering his first-ever training camp as an NFL cornerback. The Dallas Cowboys had selected him as their 92nd overall pick (third round) just weeks earlier, but you wouldn't have known he was a rookie when he traded against First-Team All-Pro wide receiver and Cowboys legend Dez Bryant competed.

Lewis, a two-time first-team All-American at Michigan and originally from Detroit, had a temperament that Bryant wasn't used to in practice – the two were constantly exchanging ideas and had to be separated from his teammates after reps .

“You might be used to something different, but that's how I do it, bro,” Lewis told Bryant during one of their many back-and-forths in 2017. “I'm none of the shit he's used to.” I'll tell him straight away.

Let's look at this season, and Lewis hasn't lost a step in his game or in the fury of his inner inferno, and you can ask George Pickens and the Steelers' wide receivers if that's true, as Lewis beat them to it along the way The Skin Gone helped knock them out in a Cowboys win at Acrisure Stadium.

Lewis was involved in two altercations during that contest, both of which resulted from receivers trying to bully him after the end of a play, and he didn't let it show.

“Yeah, I just love football, man,” he said. I just love competing, man. And whenever someone wants, I guess, they should be my opponent, I don't like that. … I’ve been doing this since I was little, so it doesn’t matter who I play, where I play, that’s how I play ball.”

Head coach Mike McCarthy, one of the least heralded but consistently top-performing players on the Cowboys' defense over the past seven-plus seasons, similarly adopted Lewis' work ethic and hyper-competitive nature upon his arrival in 2020 as defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer did after returning to Dallas in 2024.

“That little dog has a lot of bite,” Zimmer told the Joneses this offseason.

It's a sentiment McCarthy couldn't agree more with.

“J. Lew is a tone setter and always has been – that’s how I’ve known him in my time here,” McCarthy said. “He is very revered in the dressing room and that carries over to the pitch. That's his style of play. He is extremely competitive and always has been. To overcome this big, serious injury, he’s back.”

“I think he’s playing better than he ever has in their time together. He’s well respected in our locker room.”

That respect is rooted not only in his fighting spirit or the fact that he is the longest-serving defensive player in Dallas not named DeMarcus Lawrence, but also in how he overcame a devastating injury in 2022 that nearly ended his football career.

It was something that plunged him into depression and forced him to face his darkest demons, and with the help of coaches and teammates, he managed to fight back and conquer.

He would return in 2023, albeit with a slow start, and that wasn't necessarily a surprise considering how horrific the injury was. Lewis intercepted a throw from Jared Goff in the Cowboys' game against the Detroit Lions in 2022 and his foot shattered – literally – when he landed and tried to push off.

He recently shared that he broke almost every bone in his foot and tore every ligament and tendon to varying degrees, some even tearing completely.

“I didn’t think I would ever play again,” he said. “(I think) about it every day.”

Lewis underwent extensive surgery that required a metal plate and brace, as well as a total of five screws, to be inserted into his foot. This effectively reshaped his foot so that he had to relearn how to walk, run, jump and cut before he could be medically cleared for football activities and is initially trying to regain a sense of normality in his everyday life.

Once he was cleared to suit up, Lewis faced another challenge: his cleats.

He could no longer wear traditional cleats because his right foot was not the same shape as his left foot due to the plate that nearly obliterated the arch of the surgically repaired foot. His cleats are now custom-made, but the hidden blessing, as described by Lewis, is that the flattened cleats create a nearly 100 percent contact area between the bottom of the cleats and the turf or grass.

Through all of this, within a matter of months or more, Lewis is not only back to his best, but arguably better than ever.

So when you see Lewis playing and competing and staring at receiver like it's the last football performance he'll ever play, you understand that that's exactly how he feels: that it's the last football performance he will ever play because it would almost have happened in 2022.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Lewis said of his on-field demeanor.

But that doesn't mean he's letting it get the better of his technique, especially with a potent offense like the Lions, who are visiting AT&T Stadium for the third time in as many seasons.

Lewis had two interceptions against Goff in the last two meetings, and he's hungry for another, and if that means going up against quality players like Amon-Ra St. Brown and going through them, then so be it. The two will meet on Sunday for the first time since St. Brown disparaged Lewis on a podcast for his comments in the heat of the game.

If he's hoping for an apology or a tone-down on Sunday, it wouldn't be wise to hold his breath on the matter.

“I honestly don’t remember what I said,” Lewis said with a serious face. “Sometimes I just pass out and take it somewhere else. But if I said something disrespectful, I would probably say it again.”

For Lewis, it's all part of competing at the NFL level, but it's also about having the emotional discipline to not allow penalties to hurt Dallas' defense.

“Honestly, I just want to go out there and play good ball,” Lewis said. “So, I mean, if he brings the fight to me then that's it, but honestly I just want to go out there and prepare because they're a good team. …You can't lose your head, get out there and just try to make it a fight.

“They’re a good team, they’re really focused and I feel like they can win everything this year, so it’ll definitely be a good challenge.”

And Lewis is more than up to the challenge, because in the grand scheme of what he's been through over the last two years, there's really no comparison.

He has successfully climbed out of his personal hell, which would have plunged many into an abyss of suffering, to have the opportunity to do what he does in 2024. The rest is simply a matter of showing gratitude by leaving everything on the field. every rep of every quarter of every game.

After all, there are different levels to this adversity thing.

And Lewis has seen them all.