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What the H*!! happened to Patrick Lewis?!

By Dan Viens

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Nov 23, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks center Patrick Lewis (65) signals for blocking assignments before a snap against the Arizona Cardinals during the second quarter at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

It was March 10th when the news broke, and if you’re a Seahawk fan you probably remember precisely where you were when you heard that the team had traded for TE Jimmy Graham. If you’re like me, you were probably jumping up and down, texting your friends, and watching Twitter have a complete and total Seahawk Blue meltdown.

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And then you thought…… “Crap, Max Unger is in the deal? What do we do now?”

Patrick Lewis….. THAT was the answer. Or so we thought at the time.

And there was plenty of reason to believe that Lewis was part of the Unger Succession Plan. He was young, athletic (in fact much more athletic than Pro-Bowler Unger) and played extremely well down the stretch last year. In fact the team averaged 168 yards rushing in the 4 games Lewis started for an injured Unger.

The Seahawks kicked the tires on veteran centers Stephan Wisniewski and Chris Myers in the offseason, and they tried converting a couple draftees to the position, but ultimately they decided to stand pat and let Lewis battle it out with fellow incumbent Lemuel Jeanpierre and former defensive lineman Drew Nowak.

Except… it never appeared that Lewis was involved in the competition.

As far back as mini-camp it was apparent that the unknown Nowak was a legtimate candidate for the job, as he was alternating first-team reps with Jeanpierre. And once training camp started it was more of the same, with Jeanpierre starting against Denver and Nowak getting the nod last Friday in KC.

Now it looks almost certain that Nowak has won the starting job.

It also looks almost certain that Lewis will get cut.

So what the heck happened?

How does a guy with athletic upside, who’s only 24, costs the league minimum, can play guard and center and has proven he can play well when it counts get completely left out of the competition at what was undoubtedly the most crucial opening the team had this offseason?

Could it be that Lewis, upon learning of Unger’s trade, took it for granted that he was going to be the starter and took a step back in his development?

We all know about Pete Carroll’s culture of competition. No one is ever supposed to feel safe on the roster and every player, no matter how obscure, is made to feel like he has a chance to earn a job. But in this case it appears from the outside that Lewis was never given that chance, at a time when his services may have been needed more than ever.

Maybe this is just a case of the other two guys playing so well they made it clear to the coaching staff that Lewis was the odd man out, even from the beginning. But we’ve all seen enough of the 28 year old Jeanpierre to know that his athletic upside is limited.

So maybe, just maybe, this is all about Nowak, and the team is simply that high on him. And maybe, just maybe, they feel the more experienced center Jeanpierre would be the best guy to have around to help tutor, or maybe bail out, the kid.

Or maybe there’s more to the story, and Lewis somehow got himself into the doghouse with the coaching staff in the way he prepared or approached this impending opportunity. An opportunity that has obviously now passed him by.

We may never really know…….. what the heck happened to Patrick Lewis.

Next: Seahawks 53 man roster projection

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