One is a rocked up, physical marvel from a blue blood college program whose production and draft status never quite matched his physical talent. The other is Nick Perry.
Tyquan Lewis has to be watching Perry’s career unfold like the Spiderman pointing meme.
Lewis stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 265, and posted an 8-sack season in his first real turn getting run for Urban Meyer’s defense. Perry, 6-foot-3, 271, posted an 8-sack season in his first real turn getting run at USC. And the physical profiles are nearly identical.
Lewis ran 4.69, jumped 35.5’’ and 10’7’’, put up a 7.20 three-cone and a 4.34 short shuttle. Perry ran 4.64, jumped 38.5’’ and 10’4,” with a 7.25 three-cone and a 4.66 short shuttle.
While Perry fell to the Packers at the back end of the first round, Lewis appears slated for Day 3. He’s been better for at OSU rushing on the interior than he has been on the edge and lacks the kind of elite power Perry showed in college.
There’s a reason Perry was a top prospect and Lewis isn’t. They aren’t comparable prospects from a talent standpoint. But if the Packers want to add a developmental player on Day 3, maybe even the top of the fourth round, Lewis could fit the bill. He’s a somewhat raw player with gobs of physical talent that he doesn’t always play to, much as we’ve seen from Perry though his issues have had as much to do with injuries as anything else.
Lewis would give the Packers flexibility with his talent for rushing inside, the kind of malleability Mike Pettine prizes, and he won’t have the kind of price tag Perry came with when Ted Thompson tabbed him with the 28th pick in 2012.