New York Jets General Manager Joe Douglas has been nothing short of busy since stepping into his new role only a handful of weeks ago. Per the NY Daily News, the Jets have traded for ex-Ravens OL Alex Lewis, the team’s second addition to the offensive line in less than a week.
Sources: Jets have traded for Ravens OL Alex Lewis. … Jets decided to trade for him before Baltimore out him on waivers.
— Manish Mehta (@MMehtaNYDN) August 5, 2019
Jets will inherit ALex Lewis' contract. He has one year left on his deal: $2.025 base salary. (Cap hit: $2.15 million)
Lewis, 27, started 10 games for the Ravens last year.
— Manish Mehta (@MMehtaNYDN) August 5, 2019
Joe Douglas isn’t fooling around trying to improve the offensive line. Two o-line additions in the past few days: Ryan Kalil and now Alex Lewis.
The Jets gave up a conditional 7th round pick in 2020 for Lewis. They did not want Lewis to hit open market. A smart preemptive move
— Manish Mehta (@MMehtaNYDN) August 5, 2019
Just a few days prior, the Jets had announced that they had signed former 5x Pro Bowler Ryan Kalil to a contract after the center had previously announced his retirement from the NFL.
The Jets have now secured two veteran/starting offensive linemen within a week’s span. It is of no wonder that GM Joe Douglas and HC Adam Gase are all in on improving the team’s offensive line for second year QB Sam Darnold and newly acquired RB Le’Veon Bell.
Alex Lewis
Earlier in the day news had broken that the Ravens planned to release the veteran guard. Most had assumed that Lewis would hit waivers and be available to any team’s liking.
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However, the Jets were able to prevent that situation by offering Baltimore a 2020 conditional pick for the OL.
Lewis, who started ten games at guard last season with the Baltimore Ravens, is a former 2015 4th round draft pick. He has battled injury throughout his career, including a stint on the IR while with the Ravens in 2017.
Throughout the 2018-19 season, Lewis continued to fight the injury bug, suffering both neck and ankle injuries with Baltimore.
Though Lewis had passed his physical this offseason, the Ravens had informed the former starting guard that he would be released.
Lewis, now officially a New York Jet, will bring some much needed depth to the offensive line, which has been a notorious weak spot of the team for the past few seasons.
– Kyle Hirshkind is the Managing Editor for Full Press Coverage Jets and covers the New York Jets. Like and follow on Follow @kylehirshkind Follow @FPC_Jets
