Marcedes Lewis will be back for a 16th NFL season. The veteran tight end agreed to re-sign with the Packers on Wednesday. He will return to Green Bay on a two-year, $8MM contract, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.
Lewis will see $4MM guaranteed, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets, and $2.1MM fully guaranteed. The 2006 first-round pick has played with the Packers since 2018. He has missed just one game since joining the team.
The 2021 season will be Lewis’ age-37 campaign. Should he continue his run of health, Lewis will surpass 230 career games played this season. The Packers have continually found a role for the former Jaguars first-rounder, involving him as a blocker and as an occasional receiver. Most of Lewis’ Wisconsin work has come without the ball, however. He has just 28 receptions in his three Packers slates. Pro Football Focus graded Lewis as a top-10 run-blocking tight end last season.
This marks Lewis’ first multiyear Packers agreement. He signed one-year pacts in 2018, ’19 and ’20. While the guarantees on this deal do not solidify Lewis’ place on the 2022 Packers, the UCLA alum has bucked the odds to make it this far. It would certainly not surprise if he plays out this contract. Lewis and Rams tackle Andrew Whitworth are the only non-specialists from the 2006 draft still on NFL rosters.
The Packers kept 2020 breakout talent Robert Tonyan via second-round RFA tender and still have Jace Sternberger on their roster. Lewis will remain the leader of this tight end contingent, however.
BIG DOG is back!!
Maybe the finest blocking TE in the game today.
Here come the 4 TE/AJ Dillon sets.
Lewis/Sternberger on 1 side, Deguara (sp?)/Big Bob on the other. -)
Really. Who are you trying to kid here??
Everyone. Except you, who somehow seem to think I was serious.
Yeah, I too tend to dream of the old Packer sweeps with 2 TE sets, FB, even pull a guard and just drive that ball. Just not happening. So many other teams use those TEs as outlets and I wish Rodgers would too. He should never have to hold the ball longer than 2 seconds. If nothing is there, dump it to the open TE and get yourself 5-8 yards per attempt. He can sure be frustrating to watch at times.
Am I the only one who thinks $4MM per is a lot to pay Lewis. I mean he only made $2MM last season and it’s not like he’s getting better with age.
I still can’t believe they extended Bak @$23M per?. Foolish. $2.1M guaranteed I’ll take for what this dude does over 2 yrs. If he totally drops off, you don’t bring him back. You take this every day for his production. $6M for King? That’s a serious stretch. I’m just not buying what this front office is selling. They’re backing themselves into having to trade Rodgers. Not cool, and not smart.
Agree. From what I just read his cap number was 2.3 million for 2020 so the amount in this article can’t be correct unless it’s one of those salary cap games like where the saints signed their quarterback to a 4 year $140,000,000 contract.
I’m not sure how it’s structured but the article states it’s $4MM guaranteed and 2.1MM fully guaranteed which has me confused. Regardless if he’s on the roster next season we are shelling out $4MM per for a back up TE. If his cap hit is only $2.3MM then $1.7MM in dead money is being pushed to 2022 which is already looking like another issue.
If I had an extra $4MM lying around I would have invested some of it on this Mercedez link to bringatrailer.com
So what I’m seeing this week is Lewis and King for 10 million this coming year. I can’t help wonder if the Packers would be better off with Dafney taking Lewis spot as a TE and then using that 10 million on a lot better DB instead of going 6 million on King? Just wondering out loud .
You make a valid point.. but 6 mill for a starting corner is fairly cheap..and while he made some rather large mistakes…the overall play he provided during the season was ok..and i think they feel he was being misused by petine even lafluer called out petine during the season specifically how soft coverage he played..and kings size and speed has always made a much better bump and run coverage style even back to his college days so maybe they feel barry will play a more aggressive style of de and king will flourish
Good point and that’s what I like about the comments at times having a decent conversation with no bs. thanks
Thanks agreed these sights are nice when they are used as intended
I think if not for his performance in the NFCCG most Packer fans would have been happy with retaining King for $6MM. I agree he does have a lot of untapped potential and he shown flashes of above average play when not riddled by the injury bug.
I still don’t get the Lewis deal but that’s solely based on the contract amount not his fit on this roster.
For me the better question is where is the cap space coming from to do these deals…they narrowly got under in time for the new year…i know the restuctures of amos and crosby freed up a few mill recently but not enough to cover king and lewis…let alone they are estimated to need 9 mill for the draft plus they going need a few mill for in season transactions
I feel ya. Think they’re gonna have to trade Rodgers after this year. No way they can keep paying everyone (role players albeit important ones) at this level with a top 3 (or higher)paid QB. KC will feel this pain soon, as will any team with a real QB after the rookie contract. It’s getting ridiculous to pay a 53 roster with 1/4 of your available cap going to one player.
Continuity is always a good thing when you a winning team but I can’t help but feel the money this team invested on keeping Aaron Jones, Kevin King and Mercedes Lewis could have been better invested.
Possibly but will say i love jones he is so explosive keeps defenses off balance
Truth be told this is starting to feel like one last who ra for rodgers put the most of the gang back together give them one last shot to get a ring…not restructuring rodgers contract says volumes…their is still time maybe something gets done but seems unlikey right now there cap space for 2022 year is all but burnt up already over the cap has them over 200 million for 2022 something is gonna have to give since they restructured most everyone of value this year
Even though TE Lewis is 37 years old, it’s a young 37.
He stays in top physical condition and remains very limber and flexible. Those who have trained with him freely disclose that…………………………………………………………….
MARCEDES BENZ !!