Cards: Star Pics 1991, Action Packed Rookies 1991
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 7/3 Received: 11/25 (145 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

• Darren Lewis was a star tailback for the Texas A&M Aggies.
• In 1988, he set the school mark with 1692 yards on 306 carries (7 TDs), and then in 1990 missed breaking that mark by just 1 yard.
• Darren’s 1691 yards and 18 TDs were enough though to help earn him the SWC Player of the Year Honor.
• He’d cumulatively break the 5k barrier, (5,012 yards) which ranked 5th all time collegiality.
• Darren also set the school mark for most career TDs with 45.
• All in all Lewis set 25 school records at A&M and ended as the school’s all-time leading rusher and breaking Eric Dickerson’s conference rushing record.
• -Expected to go early in the 1991 draft, his stock plummeted after he tested positive for cocaine at the combine.
• Darren’s stock slid precipitously until he was selected by the Chicago Bears in the 6th round of the NFL Draft.
• To make matters worse- Bears executives admitted that they thought it was somebody else who they thought tested positive for drugs, and in a last second backpedal, considered not even inviting Darren to minicamp- even though Lewis was already checked into drug rehab.
• Darren saw sparing action in 1991 running for just 36 yards behind Neal Anderson.
• 1992 proved to be the high-water mark in Darren’s NFL career, starting the last 4 games of the season, averaging 22.2 yards on 23 kickoffs, and rushing 90 times for 382 yards and 4 TDs.
• He also added 18 receptions for 175 yards as well for a grand total of 557 yards from scrimmage.
• After a frustratingly slow start to Darren’s 1993 season under new head coach Dave Wannstedt, Darren was arrested for domestic dispute.
• The team had enough, and after 33 NFL games, Darren’s time with Chicago came to a thudding close.
• He had a tryout for the Cardinals but opted to return home to Dallas and retired.

ACCOLADES:

• SWC Offensive Player of the Year 1988
• Consensus All-American 1990
• First-team All-American 1988

NOTES:

It’s hard to say how Darren’s career would have ended up if things played out differently, and it’s hard to avoid the elephant in the room when thinking about his career in retrospect- as it was marred by drugs. When I try to write about players, I try to avoid talking about their personal problems, but in this case, it completely derailed Lewis’ future career and earnings. There is no way to avoid it.

Darren struggled with his demons. He lost a lot of things along the way including his wife and house. He was serving a 27 year sentence after pleading guilty to three counts of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Prison gave him time to reflect on his mistakes. He got remarried and

I sent to a home address that I had for Darren, and after about 3-4 months I got a response back. The postmark was from Shreveport- where I’d assume he’d been housed in federal prison.

G/GS	RUSH	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
33/6	112	431	3.8	4	33

REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
22	201	9.1	0	30

KR	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
25	524	21.0	1	97T

EPITAPH:

6/21/2024- Darren Lewis passed away of stage 4A metastatic squamous cell carcinoma in hospice care.