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Jamal Lafitte Lewis (born August 26, 1979 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American football running back who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens fifth overall in the 2000 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tennessee.

After spending his first seven seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, Lewis signed a free agent contract with the Cleveland Browns prior to the 2007 season.

Early years

Lewis attended Douglass High School in Atlanta, Georgia.^[1] Lewis was rated the top RB prospect in the nation by Super Prep. Prep Star rated him as the No. 2 southern RB. Lewis rushed for 1,716 yards and 25 TD as a senior and earned AAAA All-State and All-City honors. He was named MVP of the Georgia-Florida All-Star Game with 137 yards on 11 carries (12.4 avg.) and 2 TDs. Jamal gained 1,923 yards and scored 28 TDs as a junior and 1,240 yards and 15 TDs as a sophomore. In his 3 years as a starter, he rushed for a school-record 4,879 yards and 68 TDs, plus had a 9.7-yard average per carry.^{[citation needed]}In High School Lewis went from Full Back to starting Running Back, he also ran track and field in high school. He participated in The Mobile Meet of Champions, which is somewhat of an All-Star meet for prep athletes in the Southeast.

College career

In his three year career at the University of Tennessee, Lewis rushed for 2,677 yards and accounted for 3,161 all-purpose. Lewis stands third on the university's list of all-time rushers and fourth in all-purpose yards. As a freshman in 1997 Lewis rushed for 1,364 yards and seven touchdowns. In 1998, Jamal suffered a torn lateral collateral ligament in his right knee and missed the rest of the season. For his efforts, he was named first team Freshman All-America by The Sporting News and second-team All-SEC by the Associated Press. He was an arts and science major.

Professional career

Baltimore Ravens

Lewis was the fifth pick overall in the 2000 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens and in his rookie season, rushed for over 1300 yards, supplanting Priest Holmes as the team's starting RB. On November 11, Lewis became the youngest player since 1960 to record 200 yards from scrimmage (21 years, 82 days). The Ravens' running game and punishing defense earned them their first World Championship when they defeated the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. Lewis rushed for 103 yards and scored a touchdown in the game, becoming only the second rookie ever to rush for over 100 yards in a Super Bowl and the youngest player to score a touchdown in a Super Bowl (21).

In 2003, Lewis nearly set a new NFL single-season rushing record by rushing for 2,066 yards, leading the league. He fell just 39 yards short of the all time single season rushing record, which remains 2,105 yards, held by Eric Dickerson. Lewis joined Dickerson, Terrell Davis, Barry Sanders, and O.J. Simpson as the only backs in NFL history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season. In 2009, Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans, would join the club after rushing for 2,006 yards.

On September 14, 2003, Lewis also broke Corey Dillon's single game rushing record of 278 yards by running for 295 yards against the Cleveland Browns. Lewis was rewarded by being named NFL Offensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press. Lewis's single game rushing record was later broken by Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings on November 4, 2007, when he ran for 296 yards against the San Diego Chargers.

After the 2005 season, the Baltimore Ravens declined to franchise Lewis, making him an unrestricted free agent after the end of the season. This move was seen by many as a formality in letting Lewis move to another team. Popular speculation blamed Lewis' steadily declining performance since the 2003 season. Lewis had also voiced displeasure during the 2005 season over not having a long term deal. Despite these events the Ravens re-signed Lewis on Monday, March 13, 2006 with a three-year deal,^[2] despite having signed former Denver Broncos running back Mike Anderson, who was widely thought to be Lewis' replacement. On November 19, 2006 Lewis rushed for a season-high three touchdowns against the Atlanta Falcons. He ended the season rushing for 1,132 yards, and 9 touchdowns. On February 28, 2007, the Ravens announced that they released Lewis. However, general manager Ozzie Newsome pointed out that they hoped to re-sign him^[3] but that changed on March 7, 2007, when Lewis signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns.

Cleveland Browns

Since joining the Browns in March 2007, Lewis had been the team's starting running back. Lewis had his first 1,300+ yard season since 2003 in his first season with the Browns, rushing for 1,304 yards and 9 touchdowns.

On November 8, 2008, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Lewis was dissatisfied with the performance of his teammates in the Browns' recent loss to the Denver Broncos. Lewis stated, "this is the NFL, you can't call it quits until the game is over." Lewis went on to say "it looks to me like some people called it quits before that. Denver was down, but they didn't call it quits. They kept their heads up and they finished. We didn't do that two weeks in a row - at home." Without naming names, Lewis said: "Some people need to check their egos at the door and find some heart to come out here and play hard. This is a man's game. The way we went out there and played two weeks in a row, finishing the same kind of way, it's not there. I think there are some men around here that need to check their selves, straight up. That's it." On November 2, 2009, Lewis announced he would retire after the 2009 season.^[4] Late in the 2009 season, Lewis was placed on Injured reserve, ending his season. On February 17, 2010, the Browns released Lewis.

Career statistics

Personal life and controversy

Lewis resides in Atlanta during the offseason.

In February 2004, it surfaced that Lewis had been involved in talks about a drug deal. Lewis was charged with conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms of cocaine and using a cell phone in the commission of the first count.^[5] In February 2005, Lewis began his four-month prison term for trying to set up the drug deal.

References

External links

• Cleveland Browns bio