Seahawks 90-Man Roster Rundown: Damien Lewis

A position switch to left guard and a litany of injuries resulted in a step-back season for Lewis after a fantastic rookie season. The Seahawks hope he will be more comfortable this year and revert back to his excellent play from 2020.

Ted Zahn | Jul 22, 2022

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Seattle Seahawks

With the calendar flipping to July and offseason programs wrapped up across the country, NFL training camps will begin around the NFL in less than a month's time. To celebrate the new incoming season, the All Seahawks staff will be breaking down the Seahawks 90-man roster over the next several weeks, exploring best and worst case scenarios and what to expect from each player entering the 2022 campaign.

Damien Lewis, Left Guard

Height/Weight: 6-foot-2, 327 pounds

2021 Stats: 13 starts at left guard

The Seahawks were looking to upgrade the right guard position in the 2020 NFL Draft and move on from DJ Fluker, who had started there the previous two seasons. They found their replacement in the third round, selecting guard Damien Lewis out of LSU. Lewis was coming off a national championship season for the Tigers, where he started all 15 of their games and was named Second-Team All-Southeastern Conference. He wasted no time showing his talent in Seattle and was the starting right guard for the 2020 regular season opener. Lewis started all 16 games – one of those as an emergency center against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 11 – and performed well receiving a 70.2 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. He was also named to the PFWA All-NFL Rookie Team. Even with his early success at right guard – the same position he played both of his years at LSU – the Seahawks chose to move Lewis to left guard following the acquisition of Gabe Jackson during the 2021 offseason. Sadly, this change did not suit Lewis and he struggled during the season, only posting a 57.1 overall grade from PFF. He also had multiple injuries, including an AC joint sprain and a dislocated elbow, which caused him to miss four games.

Best Case Scenario: Lewis’ second year at left guard goes much more smoothly than the first, as he looks more like the future Pro Bowler from 2020. He starts all 17 regular season games and provides a stabilizing force next to rookie Charles Cross as the Seahawks build their offensive line towards the future.

Worst Case Scenario: The third season for Lewis is more like his disappointing 2021 season, showing the Seahawks that maybe they should have kept him at right guard where he was most comfortable. This causes concern for his future as Lewis heads into the final year of his rookie contract amid questions about trying to move him back to the right side of the offensive line or possibly to center.

What to Expect in 2022: Muscle memory is gained by athletes through thousands of repetitions. What looks like a simple change – going from right guard to left guard – is much more complicated than it seems on the surface. Lewis started at right guard all 28 games at LSU and 17 games his rookie season with the Seahawks. Asking him to flip a switch and do everything the opposite way after tens of thousands of reps of muscle memory is a tall order. It’s understandable why Lewis struggled as much as he did during the 2021 season, and that’s before factoring in the impact of his injuries. To make matters worse, Gabe Jackson didn’t play particularly well at right guard either, which brings up the question of his long-term future at right guard. Would it be better to try and trade Jackson to move Lewis back to his more natural position and slide Phil Haynes or Jake Curhan in at left guard? Then again, having Lewis swap positions year-after-year is no way to get him comfortable. The 2022 season will be extremely important for Lewis to show that he should still be thought of as a core part of this offensive line rebuild going forward.

Previous Seahawks 90-Man Roster Profiles

Published Jul 22, 2022

TED ZAHN