Dallas Cowboys: 3 Early breakout candidates for 2019 season

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 05: Michael Gallup #13 celebrates his touchdown with Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys against the Seattle Seahawks in the second quarter during the Wild Card Round at AT&T Stadium on January 05, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

2. Jourdan Lewis, CB

After being selected in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft, cornerback Jourdan Lewis figured to be a critical part of the Dallas Cowboys completely reworking their secondary. Following his rookie season, the safe bet seemed to be on that being the case after the Michigan Wolverines product was on the field for 71.39 percent of defensive snaps in the 2017 season. That wasn’t the case though.

With Byron Jones moving from safety to corner last offseason, Anthony Brown more or less stole the slot corner position from Lewis. As a result, Lewis wasn’t necessarily bad in the 2018 season as much as he just couldn’t get on the field consistently. With Kris Richard in as defensive backs coach and an affinity for size at the position, Lewis was only on the field for 18.26 percent of defensive snaps.

While that may be the case, Richard actually spoke on Lewis this offseason, saying that he was the “exception” to his normal size thresholds. That seems to speak favorably towards Lewis seeing the field more in the 2019 season, especially when you consider that Brown was far from great last year, grading as just the 62nd best corner in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

As a rookie, Lewis showcased the potential to be one of the better slot corners in the NFL. If Richard is true to his words about the corner being the “exception”, the Michigan product should have the opportunity to take snaps from Brown and ultimately shine in the manner that many people expected him to coming into the 2018 campaign.

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