Gregory Alan Lewis Jr. (born February 12, 1980) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player. He is the

running backs coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played wide receiver in the NFL for eight seasons. After playing

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, he was signed by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2003. He played for the Eagles for six seasons from 2003 to 2008 and the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

for two seasons from 2009 to 2010. Lewis has served as assistant coach for the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

, San Jose State, Pittsburgh Panthers, Eagles, and Chiefs.

Early years

Lewis attended Rich South High School in Richton Park, Illinois, which retired his No. 8 jersey in 2004.

College career

Lewis went to the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, joining the football team as a

walk-on Walk On may refer to: Music * ''Walk On'', a 1994 album by Boston, and its title song Albums * ''Walk On'' (Boston album), 1994 * ''Walk On'' (John Hiatt album), 1995 * ''Walk On'' (Randy Johnston album), 1992 *''Walk On'', a 2007 album by ...

Professional career

Philadelphia Eagles

After going undrafted in the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

, Lewis signed with the

as an

. Limited to mostly special teams his rookie season, Lewis worked his way into the receivers rotation his second year, helping the Eagles reach

Super Bowl XXXIX Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League ( ...

. He caught a 30-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to bring the Eagles within 3, but the Eagles would go on to lose the game. Lewis spent six seasons with the Eagles, playing in 99 games with 24 starts between the regular season and playoffs, while recording 136 receptions for 1,879 yards and eight touchdowns.

New England Patriots

Lewis was acquired via trade along with a 2010 7th-round draft pick by the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in exchange for a 2009 5th-round draft pick on March 5, 2009. Coach Bill Belichick had considered drafting Lewis in 2003, and Lewis had career games against the Patriots in the Super Bowl, and in 2007 when the Eagles nearly ended the Patriots undefeated streak. However, he was released on September 5 during finals cuts.

Minnesota Vikings

Lewis signed with the

on September 10, 2009. This reunited him with Vikings coach

Brad Childress Bradley Childress (born June 27, 1956) is a former American football coach. He worked for over 40 years as a coach for various college programs and National Football League (NFL) franchises. He was the offensive coordinator for Wisconsin from 19 ...

, who previously served as offensive coordinator for the Eagles. On September 27, 2009, Lewis caught a contested 32-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

pass from quarterback

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 20 ...

while falling out of the back of the end zone with two seconds remaining to give the Vikings a dramatic come-from-behind 27-24 victory over the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. It was Lewis' first catch with the team and the game marked his debut as a Viking (he was inactive for the previous two games). He received an ESPY Award for Best Play along with Favre. He was re-signed to a one-year contract on February 28, 2010.

Coaching career

Lewis was a coaching intern for the Eagles during the rookie mini-camp in 2012. For the 2012 season under head coach

Ron Caragher Ronald Allen Caragher (born January 24, 1967) is an American athletics administrator and former college football coach who currently serves as the assistant athletics director for development at the University of San Diego. He was previously th ...

, Lewis was wide receivers coach for the

Toreros football team that went 8-3 with the top 3 receivers going for 144 catches and 15 of the team's 20 touchdown passes. Caragher became head coach at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

in 2013, and Lewis joined Caragher's staff in San Jose State as wide receivers coach. On February 19, 2014, Lewis was named the receivers coach at the University of Pittsburgh by head coach Paul Chryst. After spending the 2015 season with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

of the NFL as an offensive assistant, Lewis was hired by the Eagles as the team's wide receivers coach on January 20, 2016 and released on January 9, 2017. Lewis was hired as the

' wide receiver coach in January 2017. In 2019, Lewis won his first Super Bowl when the Chiefs defeated the

31-20 in Super Bowl LIV. He was reassigned to be the Chiefs'

on April 2, 2021. In Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season, Lewis started a physical altercation when he pushed

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

player

Ronnie Harrison Ronnie Harrison Jr. (born April 18, 1997) is an American football strong safety for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama and was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third roun ...

who was standing over Kansas City Chiefs player Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Lewis was later fined an undisclosed amount by the league.

References

External links

Official websiteNew England Patriots bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Greg 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Chicago Players of American football from Chicago American football wide receivers Illinois Fighting Illini football players Philadelphia Eagles players Philadelphia Eagles coaches Minnesota Vikings players New Orleans Saints coaches San Diego Toreros football coaches San Jose State Spartans football coaches Pittsburgh Panthers football coaches New England Patriots players Kansas City Chiefs coaches