Jamal Lewis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jamal Lafitte Lewis (born August 26, 1979 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American football running back for the Cleveland Browns. He was originally drafted by the Baltimore Ravens fifth overall in the 2000 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tennessee.

After spending his first seven seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, Lewis signed a free agent contract with the Cleveland Browns prior to the 2007 season.

[edit] High school

Lewis attended Douglass High School in Atlanta, Georgia.^[1] Lewis was rated the top FB prospect in the nation by Super Prep. Prep Star rated him as the No. 2 southern RB. Lewis rushed for 1,716 yards and 25 TD as a senior and earned AAAA All-State and All-City honors. He was named MVP of the Georgia-Florida All-Star Game with 137 yards on 11 carries (12.4 avg.) and 2 TDs. Jamal gained 1,923 yards and scored 28 TDs as a junior and 1,240 yards and 15 TDs as a sophomore. In his 3 years as a starter, he rushed for a school-record 4,879 yards and 68 TDs, plus had a 9.7-yard average per carry.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] College career

In his three year career at the University of Tennessee, Lewis rushed for 2,677 yards and accounted for 3,161 all-purpose yards. Lewis stands third on the university's list of all-time rushers and fourth in all-purpose yards. As a freshman in 1997 Lewis rushed for 1,364 yards and seven touchdowns. For his efforts, he was named first team Freshman All-America by The Sporting News and second-team All-SEC by the Associated Press. He was an arts and science major.

[edit] Professional career

[edit] Baltimore Ravens

Lewis was the fifth pick overall in the 2000 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens and in his rookie season, rushed for over 1,000 yards, supplanting Priest Holmes as the team's starting RB. The Ravens' running game and punishing defense earned them their first World Championship when they defeated the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. Lewis rushed for 103 yards and scored a touchdown in the game, becoming only the second rookie ever to rush for over 100 yards in a Super Bowl.

In 2003, Lewis nearly set a new NFL single-season rushing record by rushing for 2,066 yards, leading the league. He fell just 39 yards short of the all time single season rushing record, which remains 2,105 yards, held by Eric Dickerson. Lewis joined Dickerson, Terrell Davis, Barry Sanders, and O.J. Simpson as the only backs in NFL history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season.

During the 2003 season, Lewis also broke Corey Dillon's single game rushing record of 279 yards by running for 295 yards against the Cleveland Browns. Lewis was rewarded by being named NFL Offensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press. Lewis's single game rushing record was then broken by Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings on November 4, 2007, when he ran for 296 yards against the San Diego Chargers.

After the 2005 season, the Baltimore Ravens declined to franchise Lewis, making him an unrestricted free agent after the end of the season. This move was seen by many as a formality in letting Lewis move to another team. Popular speculation blamed Lewis' steadily declining performance since the 2003 season. Lewis had also voiced displeasure during the 2005 season over not having a long term deal. Despite these events the Ravens re-signed Lewis on Monday, March 13, 2006 with a three-year deal,^[2] despite having signed former Denver Broncos running back Mike Anderson, who was widely thought to be Lewis' replacement. On November 19, 2006 Lewis rushed for a season-high three touchdowns against the Atlanta Falcons. He ended the season rushing for 1,132 yards, and 9 touchdowns. On February 28, 2007, the Ravens announced that they released Lewis. However, general manager Ozzie Newsome pointed out that they hoped to re-sign him^[3] but that changed on March 7, 2007, when Lewis signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns.

[edit] Cleveland Browns

In 2007, Lewis made $3.5 million with a performance bonus of $1.5 million more off of a one-year contract. Lewis' signing with Cleveland was notable because it came just 4 years after setting the single-game rushing record against the Browns. On September 16th Lewis rushed for 216 yards in a single game against the Cincinnati Bengals becoming the first Browns player to eclipse the 200 yard mark since Greg Pruitt on December 14, 1975. This was the most rushing yards by a Browns player in a single game since Jim Brown had 223 yards in a game in 1963. Lewis eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark for the 2007 season in a hard-fought struggle against both the Buffalo Bills and the elements in a blizzard game on Sunday, December 16, 2007. This accomplishment makes Lewis (along with Reuben Droughns) as the only Browns to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since 1985. He finished his first year as a Brown in the top five in rushing yards in the NFL by rushing for 1304 yards and 9 touchdowns.

On February 21, 2007, Lewis agreed to a three-year deal to stay with the Browns.^[4]

[edit] Career Statistics

[edit] Personal life

Lewis resides in Atlanta during the off season.

In February 2004, it surfaced that Lewis had been involved in talks about a drug deal. Lewis was charged with conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms of cocaine and using a cell phone in the commission of the first count.^[5] In February 2005, Lewis began his 4 month prison term trying to set up the drug deal. He was subsequently suspended 4 games in the 2005 season due to drug charges.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Cleveland Browns bio