Dallas Cowboys face major problem at cornerback after losing Jourdan Lewis to the Jaguars
The Dallas Cowboys are off and rolling in free agency ... by watching one of their own leave the building.
Veteran nickel cornerback Jourdan Lewis, who has been with the Cowboys since he was drafted in the third round in 2017, has agreed to terms on a three-year, $30 million deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars that makes him the highest-paid nickel in the NFL, a source confirmed to the Star-Telegram.
After re-signing defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to an extension last week, all of the attention from the Cowboys pivoted toward getting a deal done with Lewis. He was considered a top priority to bring back in new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus’ defense, but he instead will take top-dollar to join a rebuilding Jaguars defensive unit.
Lewis will now earn $10 million per year salary after a 2024 season that saw him play some of the best ball of his career. In eight seasons, he played 115 games and hauled in 10 interceptions to go along with 386 tackles.
For the Cowboys, it puts them in a dangerous position at cornerback. As of Monday afternoon, the Cowboys have just six cornerbacks on their roster: DaRon Bland, Trevon Diggs (who could miss the start of the season), Caelen Carson, Andrew Booth Jr., Kemon Hall and Josh Butler (who is expected to miss the majority of the season). Only Bland, Carson and Diggs did not see time on the practice squad last season. All three spent time on the injured reserve.
Other in-house free agents include Israel Mukuamu and Amani Oruwariye. Both were among the ten players that played snaps at cornerback last season when the injury bug tore through the position group as the season went on. With depth already a problem in 2024 as the injuries mounted, the problem amplifies early in the 2025 offseason with Lewis departing for Jacksonville. Both could get brought back on cheap deals, but Mukuamu has not been in a starting role since being drafted in 2021, and Oruwariye hasn’t been in a feature role since 2021 when he was with the Detroit Lions.
This gives the Cowboys two options: become a big player in free agency for a cornerback or spend a premium draft pick on solidifying the position instead.
Bland has experience from his rookie season playing at nickel, so the urgency to find a nickel-specific cornerback may not be present. Big name free agent corners such as Charvarius Ward, Byron Murphy and Rasul Douglas are still on the market, as are cheaper options such as Kristian Fulton, Nate Hobbs and Jonathan Jones.
In the draft, the Cowboys have already begun their background work on a handful of top cornerback prospects. At the NFL Combine, they held formal meetings with Michigan’s Will Johnson, Texas’ Jahdae Barron, Ole Miss’ Trey Amos, Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston among others.
Solidfying the position with at least one, and possibly two, starter(s) in the coming weeks has now become a top priority in a matter of hours for Dallas.
This story was originally published March 10, 2025 at 1:33 PM.
