Both Matt LaFleur and Aaron Rodgers are thrilled to have TE Marcedes Lewis back with the Packers for 2020.
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Both coach Matt LaFleur and quarterback Aaron Rodgers couldn’t be happier to have veteran tight end Marcedes Lewis back in Green Bay to play a third-straight season with the Packers in 2020.
Lewis, who turned 36 in May, signed a one-year deal to return, ensuring the Packers would retain an established leader in the locker room, a veteran presence in a young, unproven tight end room and a valuable run blocker for LaFleur’s scheme.
“Marcedes is one of the best pros, and he is a great leader on this football team. He does such a good job of setting the example. He’s a pro’s pro,” LaFleur said during a conference call last month.
Rodgers, who threw his first touchdown pass to Lewis in New York last season, echoed the thoughts of his coach.
“I was really excited to see ‘Big Dog’ come back,” Rodgers said last month. “He not only provides a great presence to our run-blocking scheme but our locker room. He’s just a consummate professional, a fantastic leader for our football team. Bringing him back was an important part of shoring up that (tight end) room.”
Rarely used his first season in Green Bay, Lewis was revived in LaFleur’s scheme, playing nearly 500 snaps on offense in 2019. He thrived in his role as the team’s go-to inline blocker. Pro Football Focus graded him out as one of the top run-blocking tight ends in the NFL, a key factor as the Packers leaned more and more on Aaron Jones and the run game, and Lewis even caught 15 passes on just 19 targets for 156 yards and a score.
LaFleur said Lewis is still playing at “an extremely high level.”
“He is one of the best blocking tight ends in the National Football League,” LaFleur said. “And when given the opportunities in the passing game, he produced for us. I know we didn’t target him a bunch, but he made some critical plays for us. The touchdown against the Giants, the big pass he had against Detroit at home, big explosive play. Couple screens we threw to him. He consistently performed.”
Packers Wire’s year-end assessment of the team’s “Studs and Duds” placed Lewis firmly in the “studs” category, noting his consistent ability to make every kind of block as an inline tight end in the wide-zone run scheme. In the passing game, Rodgers completed almost 80 percent of his passes and had a passer rating of 118.4 when targeting Lewis in 2019.
Lewis expressed a clear desire to return, so the Packers made it happen. It was likely an easy decision from the team’s side, especially with Jimmy Graham now in Chicago and youngsters such as Jace Sternberger, Robert Tonyan and third-round pick Josiah Deguara in need of guidance as their roles at tight end expand in 2020.
Also, every team is looking for veteran players like Lewis, a productive leader with an established history of performing within a well-defined role.
“You can never enough guys like Marcedes Lewis on your football team,” LaFleur said.
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