In sum, the 39-year-old Lewis has 5,084 career receiving yards and 39 touchdowns in 17 seasons, averaging 11.8 yards per catch over almost two decades of NFL play. And despite his age, he believes he still has the skills to be a dependable contributor for the right team. He’s consistently healthy, missing only one game to injury in the last six years, and in his opinion his abilities have remained at a high level.
“For older players, there’s two things where they could potentially not get picked up,” Lewis said. “One is that their play is declining for their role. The second thing is they’re asking for too much money. I’m neither of those. I just want to compete.”
The main hurdle Lewis will have to overcome in finding his next destination is the current lack of teams in need of adding a tight end to their roster. 15 tight ends were selected in this year’s draft, including nine within the first three rounds. But there are advantages to having a veteran around to help mentor incoming players, a fact that Lewis thinks could work to his advantage.
With the dearth of options available at the moment, it’s possible Lewis will have to wait until training camp or even later to get a call, as teams start to finalize rosters and injuries crop up. But even as he anxiously awaits a call for a record-breaking 2023 season, he’s reminded of the privilege it’s been to play as long as he has and the work he’s put in to reach this point.
“When I was playing Pop Warner at 7 or 8 years old, the only thing I could think about was just trying to be the best in my hood,” he said. “I did that, learned how to compete in high school and did really well in college — getting inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame last year was big for me — but now to be potentially going into my 18th year, it means a lot.
“It just shows that hard work does pay off. I’m excited for it. I’m antsy. I want to hurry up and figure out where I’m going to be. But it’s definitely an honor to still be able to do it.”