Ravens sign former Texans, Chiefs S Kendrick Lewis

Former Texans safety Kendrick Lewis has signed with the Baltimore Ravens on a three-year deal per Aaron Wilson.

Kendrick Lewis to the Ravens on a three-year deal, according to a league source

— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) March 14, 2015

Lewis signed with the Texans in March of 2014 after a four year stint with the Chiefs. Kansas City drafted Lewis in the 5th round of the 2010 draft.

Interesting Trivia about Kendrick Lewis

In what has to be considered a really unusual coincidence, Kendrick Lewis was drafted one pick before Perrish Cox, who the Ravens were also in on according to Aaron Wilson, before signing Lewis.

Ravens were in on Perrish Cox, but wouldn't go as high as the three-year, $15 million that he got from the Titans, according to sources

— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) March 14, 2015

He was also drafted one pick after Dominique Franks, who we should probably forget ever played for us.

What do we know about him?

Lewis had his best season in 2014 with Houston, turning in an Approximate Value of 7. He had two picks, six passes defensed, and three forced fumbles.

Strangely, Houston decided to relegate him to a back up role, likely to make room for D.J. Swearinger and newly signed Rahim Moore. Lewis expressed a desire to start, thus opting not to accept any offer from Houston.

Texans wanted to sign FS Kendrick Lewis but he didn't want to be a backup to Rahim Moore and signed with Ravens.

— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) March 14, 2015

His best season with Kansas City came in 2011. He produced three interceptions (including a pick six), 10 passes defensed. He played against us as a rookie in 2010 during the AFC Wild Card game, which Baltimore ran away with 30-7.

Lewis has been a pretty consistent player. He is not great but Lewis is a perfectly serviceable starter at Safety. I would have robbed a Salvation Army donation center for that in early January last year.  OK, not really. But maybe.

He'll bring a cost effective option to a secondary that not only lacks elite talent outside of Jimmy Smith (and maybe Webb) but also lacks even 16-game starter quality talent. Matt Elam is still on this team after all.

What about compensatory picks?

I've already seen about 20 people complain about this on Twitter, so allow me to clear this up now. We have lost five UFAs already. Lewis' signing reduces our qualified UFAs to four. You can only get four comp picks so we can still get the maximum. Yes the formula is a secret but this part of it is pretty well-known.

Depending on the amount of his deal though it could affect the quality of one of those picks. Given that he must have signed for less than the 3 year, $15 million that Perrish Cox received, it is doubtful though that Lewis' signing will materially affect the quality of any compensatory pick.