Saquon Barkley has his backup.
New head coach Joe Judge reached back into what he knows best — his time spent with the Patriots — to bring in Dion Lewis, who agreed to terms on a one-year deal Monday with the Giants.
Lewis, 29, joins a running back group behind Barkley that includes Wayne Gallman, John Hilliman and fullback Eli Penny.
Judge was with the Patriots as the special teams coordinator during Lewis’ three-year stay (2015-17). Lewis won a Super Bowl, played in all 16 games for the first time in his career and established himself as a small but rugged runner, especially adept at catching passes out of the backfield. His best season came in 2017, when he rushed for 896 yards and six touchdowns.
Lewis in 2018 signed a four-year, $20 million deal with the Titans and that season caught a career-high 59 passes. The ascension of Derrick Henry last season made Lewis little more than an afterthought in the Titans offense and he was released March 12.
The Giants last season struggled when Barkley missed three games with a high ankle sprain. Gallman played well in a rare start against the Redskins, running for a touchdown and hauling in a pass for another, but he was forced out of the next game with a concussion and fell into disfavor with former coach Pat Shurmur. Gallman was a healthy scratch and inactive down the stretch of the season.
The new coaching regime may have different plans for Gallman and now Lewis is on the scene, a proven veteran entering his 10th NFL season. Lewis, from upstate Albany, graduated high school from Blair Academy in N.J. He went to Pitt and was a 2011 fifth-round pick of the Eagles.
