FRISCO, Texas — Free agency is underway in the NFL, to say the least, with legal tampering beginning on Monday, March 10, and with that comes another round of decisions for the ÃÛÌÒTV. Having secured their top in-house free agent, Osa Odighizuwa, on a multi-year contract extension a few days prior, they were unable to come to terms with Jourdan Lewis, another high-priority defensive talent.
Lewis has reportedly agreed to terms with the Jacksonville Jaguars, per multiple reports that include NFL Network, on a deal that will make him the highest-paid nickel corner in the league.
Every team in the NFL wants to establish the right culture within their locker room and, for the Cowboys, Lewis became the epitome of what that should look like. Not only did the veteran cornerback claw his way back from a career-threatening foot injury suffered in 2022, one of the most emotionally challenging hurdles he's faced in his life, to his own admission, but he re-established himself as one of the best defenders on both the Cowboys' roster and in the league as a whole.
Despite not being named a Pro Bowler or an All-Pro in 2024, a career-best season that saw him routinely rated and graded as the best nickel corner in football, Lewis helped carry a team and locker room who was often in dire straits throughout the season — a fiery, vocal mentor and leader who commands respect and who turned a one-year, prove-it deal into something much more substantive in this year's free agency.
Lewis originally joined the Cowboys as their third-round pick in 2017, earning the right to be named starter by becoming of the team's only ballhawks in the pre-Trevon Diggs/pre-DaRon Bland era.
The loss creates a huge void at that nickel corner position in Dallas, one they'll have to address via both current talent, e.g., Caelen Carson, and/or free agency and/or the 2025 NFL Draft.
