FRISCO, Texas — The year was 2017, and Jourdan Lewis was entering his first-ever training camp as an NFL cornerback, the Dallas Cowboys having giving him the nod as their 92nd-overall pick (third round) only weeks prior, but you wouldn't have known he was a rookie when he matched up against First-Team All-Pro wide receiver, and Cowboys' legend, Dez Bryant.
A two-time First-Team All-American at Michigan, and a Detroit native, Lewis' temperament was something Bryant wasn't accustomed to in practice — the two constantly locking verbal horns and having to be separated by teammates after reps.
"You might be used to something else, but this is how I do it, bro," Lewis told Bryant during one of their many back-and-forths in 2017. "I ain't none of that sh-t he's used to. I'm letting him know right now. I'm telling all of y'all."
Fast forward to this season and Lewis hasn't lost a step in his play or in the raging of his internal inferno, and you can ask George Pickens and the Steelers wide receivers if that's true, seeing as Lewis got under their skin en route to helping to shut them down in a Cowboys' victory at Acrisure Stadium.
Lewis was involved in two altercations during that contest, both stemming from receivers trying to bully him after a play was over, and he was having none of it.
"Yeah, I just love football, man," he said. I just love to compete, man. And then whenever somebody wants to, I guess be my antagonist, I don't like that. … I've been doing this since I've been little, so it [doesn't] matter who I play, where I play, this is how I play ball."
One of the most unheralded but consistently top performing players on the Cowboys' defense over that past seven-plus seasons, head coach Mike McCarthy embraced the blue collar work ethic and super-competitive nature of Lewis upon his arrival in 2020, much like defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer did upon his return to Dallas in 2024.
"That little dog has a lot of bite," Zimmer told the Joneses this offseason.
It's a sentiment McCarthy could not agree with more.
"J. Lew is a tone-setter, and always has been — that's how I've known him in my time here," said McCarthy. "He's very revered in the locker room and it carries over onto the field. That's his play style. He's super competitive, and always has been. To overcome that major, major injury, he's back.
"I think he's playing as good as he ever has in his time together. He's very well-respected in our locker room."
That respect is rooted in not only his competitive fire, or the fact he's the longest tenured 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 one that thrust him into depression and forced him to face his darkest demons and, with the help of coaches and teammates, he was able to beat back and defeat.
He'd return in 2023, but to a slow start, and that was not necessarily a surprise when considering just how awful the injury was. Lewis intercepted a throw from Jared Goff in the Cowboys' matchup against the Detroit Lions, in 2022, and his foot shattered — literally shattered — as he landed and attempted to push off.
He shared, recently, that he fractured nearly every bone in his foot and shredded every ligament and tendon to varying degrees, some completely torn altogether.
"I didn't think I'd ever play again," he said. "[I think] about that everyday."
Lewis underwent an extensive surgery that required a metal plate and brace placed in his foot along with a total of five screws, effectively reshaping his foot to the point he had to relearn how to walk, run, jump and cut before he could be medically cleared for football activities, trying first to regain a sense of normalcy in his everyday life.
Once cleared to suit up, Lewis was met with yet another challenge: his cleats.
He couldn't wear traditional cleats anymore, because his right foot was not the same shape as his left due to the plate that all but deleted the arch in the surgically-repaired foot. His cleats are now custom-made, but the blessing in disguise, as described by Lewis, is that the flattened cleat creates a near 100% contact patch between the bottom of cleat and the turf or grass.
Through all of this, in a matter of only several months or more, Lewis is not only back to prime form but, arguably, he's better than he's ever been.
So when you see Lewis playing and competing, and jawing at receivers, like it's the last rep of football he'll ever play, understand it's because that's exactly how he feels: that it could be the last rep of football he'll ever play because, in 2022, it nearly was.
"It's a lot of fun," Lewis said of his on-field demeanor.
But that doesn't mean he's allowing that to overpower his technique, and especially with a high-powered offense like the Lions making a third visit to AT&T Stadium in as many seasons.
Lewis has two interceptions against Goff over the past two meetings, and he's hungry for another, and if that means going against and through top-shelf players like Amon-Ra St. Brown, then so be it. The two will meet on Sunday for the first time since St. Brown took to a podcast to blast Lewis for comments he viewed as disrespectful in the heat of the game.
If he's hoping for an apology or for it to be toned down on Sunday, holding his breath on the matter is not advised.
"I honestly don't remember [what I said]," said Lewis, with a straight face."Sometimes, I just black out and just go somewhere else with it. But if I said anything disrespectful — I'd probably say it again."
It's all a part of competing at the NFL level, in Lewis' view, but it's also about having the emotional discipline of not allowing it to draw penalties that harm Dallas' defense.
"I just want to go out there and play good ball, honestly," said Lewis. "So, I mean, if he brings the fight to me, that's what it is, but honestly I just want to go out there and prepare, because they're a good team. … You can't lose your head, go out there and just try to make it a brawl.
"They're a good team, they're really focused and I feel like they feel like they can win it all this year, so it is definitely going to be a good challenge."
And it's a challenge Lewis is more than up to facing head-on seeing as, in the grand scheme of everything he's been through over the past two years, there's actually no comparison.
He successfully climbed out of his own personal Hell, one that would've dragged many into an abyss of woe, to have the opportunity to do what he's doing in 2024. The rest is simply showing his gratitude by leaving it all on the field, every rep of every quarter of every game.
After all, there are levels to this adversity thing.
And Lewis has seen them all.
