"We are excited to be able to add a player of Keenan's ability to our defense," Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said in a statement. "He was a top free-agent target for us and I know that he is very excited to be able to come home to play football." "I'm very excited to be able to come back to my hometown," Lewis said. "Having grown up here I understand the passion that the fans have for the Saints and I'm blessed to be able to have the chance to play in front of them here in the future. "I had a great visit with the Saints and am thankful for the time I spent with the Pittsburgh Steelers and wish them continued success."
Dave Cariello, Managing Editor of Canal Street Chronicles: "This is a huge signing. Lewis was one of the top free agent cornerbacks available this year. He should instantly improve the Saints secondary."
NFL.com on Lewis: "Blessed with a long, lanky build, strong hand punch and an explosive burst to close, Lewis is well-suited to the aggressive man-to-man schemes" "Rare height for the position. ... Aggressive at the line of scrimmage. ... At his best in press coverage where he can get his long arms on the receiver and disrupt the timing of the passing game. ... Good foot quickness to turn and run with the receiver. ... Plants, drives and closes quickly. ... Gets his hands on lot of passes. ... Has the experience and intelligence to operate well in zone coverage"
Lewis' Combine stats: 4.47 -- forty yard dash(4.49 at his pro day) 6-1, 195 -- height/weight 19 bench reps (20 at his his pro day)
Mike Triplett of the Times Picayune on Lewis: --Based on the film study by Pro Football Focus, Lewis allowed a completion rate of 52.7 percent and a passer rating of 80.7 on balls thrown his way. --The 26-year-old Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback and NOLA native was rated almost universally as a top-20 NFL free agent by most analysts heading into the new league year. Sports Illustrated's Peter King ranked him eighth overall. --Former NFL safety Matt Bowen, who now analyzes the NFL for the Chicago Tribune among other outlets, said Lewis is a physical corner who can play man defense. And he especially likes him as a fit in the NFC South. "That's what you want vs. Julio (Jones) and V Jax (Vincent Jackson) in (defensive coordinator Rob Ryan's scheme," Bowen said --Really like Lewis signing for #Saints --a great signing for #Saints
checked some Steeler forums, and they are pretty upset with the news of Lewis to the Saints: Sh*t... makes me mad Wow. Oh nooooo... disappointing. Lewis will easily be our biggest loss this offseason. Kinda pissed about it, to be frank. he should've been priority Wow. Yeyyy were F'd Damn... losing Lewis hurts especially bad F! Makes me mad. Most unfortunate for the Steelers. F**k this sh*t blows. depressing F**king disaster. 8-8 will be a godsend next year. Call me chicken little all you want. Our defense is decimated. I am surprised We had one guy that we needed to keep and couldn't get it done. Pretty bad. the first disappointment of the offseason for me why the f**k did we not get proactive on this deal for Keenan is beyond me. sucks but oh well, we move on F**king disaster. Keenan Lewis is a stud. We replaced him with Willie Gay. F**k that noise. Itll hurt for a bit but in the end we will persevere. We should have locked him up Sucks, but not the end. oh well... We could have been set at CB for the next 4-5 years by signing him im worried... Damn this sucks. Well at least he's out of the conference I guess. What a sh*tty off-season thus far Just shows you, we have no idea where this FO is taking this Franchise in the next few years. I wish someone from the FO would come on here and tell us their "Master" plan, because at this point, I have Freakin' clue. They are rebuilding backwards. Well now we need a CB this creates another hole that needs filled I don't like this offseason so far at all. things are pretty bleak right now. That sucks. Sh*t happens. i'd rather have cut Ike, and had Lewis locked up to a bargain rate for a young starting corner. We should have cut Ike Taylor. Cutting Taylor would have freed up enough money to keep Lewis. Locking up Lewis and Allen would have solidified the position for the next 5 years. Better move would have been to cut Ike and lock Lewis & Allen up for the next 5 years. I thought keeping Lewis was important. I would have even went as far as cutting Troy (Polamalu). We should have kept Keenan Lewis and also keep Cortez Allen. I love Ike and I love Troy (Polamalu) but those 2 guys who are on the downside of their careers should have restructured to Keep Lewis who is just entering his prime this one baffles me. willing to pay old, broke harrison more money than a young, up and coming cb(especially in a pass happy league) We have to account for signings of our draft picks, plus the signings we already made, I don't know if they had enough cap room to do both plus sign keenan. This doesn't seem to be the way the Steelers did things in the 90's. Pittsburgh used to let older players go like Ike Taylor while signing someone like Lewis. I think the Steelers will have less talent next year when compared to this season and a losing record. If Im being honest, I think it wouldve been hard to retain Lewis even if we had money. Lewis is young, has the measurables and skillset to be a star CB in this new league, and has shown the light has come on. ON TOP OF THIS, in a CB-glutted FA market. You CAN'T let him walk. Lewis is fast and big, for the most part what you need to be a bad ass DB in this league now. in order to sign him, he has to want to sign here. That's a basic premise and one that has been completely bypassed. How do we even know he WANTS to be in Pittsburgh? It may not matter what we offered him. Who knows? Seems Mr. Lewis had his heart set on going back to NOLA. How you can you possibly know that? it's like you are trying to read his mind? Unless you and Keenan had a sitdown and hashed this out over the last few days. Everyone seems to be neglecting the central tenet of free agency here: Players are free to choose from several competing contract offers. Player preference is being ignored entirely in this thread. Spoiler Alert: All things being equal, some players would choose to play for a team other than the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Walter Football also gives an A Grade to the Saints signing Lewis: Saints sign CB Keenan Lewis (5 years, $26M; $11M guaranteed): A Grade Keenan Lewis was the second-best cornerback still available in free agency. He's better than both Sean Smith and Cary Williams, yet he's slated to make less per year than both of them. This is not because teams didn't view Lewis as an inferior cornerback; he simply took a discount to play with the Saints. According to the Chicago Sun-Times' Sean Jensen, another team offered Lewis a much larger contract. This is obviously an awesome acquisition for the Saints. They're filling their huge corner need with a very talented player at a very reasonable price.
from a Saints fan: Lewis on WWL just said he turned down 1.5 million a season more from Eagles and Titans. This kid is going to ball for us, he WANTS to be here. Turned down 7.5 million yeah that's huge!!
CBS Sports Senior NFL Columnist Pete Prisco: One of the signings I really liked from Thursday was the Saints getting Steelers corner Keenan Lewis. He is a smooth cover player who...can play man or zone, and the Saints badly needed an upgrade. His best football is in front of him. In a division with the Falcons, you have to defend the pass.
@nfldraftscout: Keenan Lewis to the #Saints is the best signing I've seen so far today. He's the physical CB they need against Julio Jones.
