Why former Chief Albert Lewis deserves to be finalist for Pro Football Hall of Fame

On Wednesday at his 294-acre Greystone Ranch in Centreville, Mississippi, Albert Lewis was out and about fixing pipes damaged by the most brutal cold snap he could remember since he bought the property in 1999.

Breeding and training horses is how he has spent most of his time since then, and he’s passionate about the consuming work he says has caused him more injuries than he suffered in his 16-year NFL career.

Apparently having learned the hard way, he said with a laugh, “You can’t tackle horses. Trust me, you’ve got to negotiate with horses.”

This is his life now, he would later say. All he knows.

And that’s one of a few reasons the former Chiefs cornerback isn’t fretting over whether he might finally get his due recognition by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his last year of eligibility as a modern-era candidate — the final chance before being relegated to what Hall of Fame voters know as the “abyss” of a jammed senior pool that makes for a far more daunting path.

That path of most resistance is the one faced by his nine-year roommate with the Chiefs, safety Deron Cherry, who remains in the region and has a superb case of his own that we’ll come back to.

We bring up Cherry now in part because he’s tethered to Lewis (each was named to the 25th and 40th anniversary teams of a franchise whose lore includes Hall of Fame defensive backs Johnny Robinson and Emmitt Thomas) but primarily to prime the pump for more discussion and awareness of Cherry’s case as the Hall of Fame senior selection committee embarks on its next chapter in 2023.

(Like all NFL franchises, the Chiefs have multiple players of yesteryear deserving of further contemplation. In their case, that also includes stars of the distant past such as Fred Arbanas, Ed Budde, Otis Taylor and Jim Tyrer. Jared Allen, who spent four of his 13 NFL seasons with the Chiefs, also is a semifinalist for the Class of 2023.)

More immediately, Lewis isn’t fixated on whether he’ll advance on Tuesday from among 28 modern-era semifinalists to 15 finalists for the ‘23 class.

Even if making that key cut would enable his uniquely compelling case to be discussed at length by the 49-person selection committee that includes yours truly.

Not that he’s not honored to be a semifinalist. In fact, he was “kind of shocked” to get this far for just the second time.

“I think it’s good company, no matter how you slice it,” he said. “And not everybody gets in.”

Then again …

“I don’t really know how I feel about it at this time,” said Lewis, who played for the Chiefs from 1983-1993 and once felt sure he’d be Hall of Fame bound. “I’m not that confident anymore.”

He’s not confident in the process, that is, as opposed to his resume or other distinguishing elements of a case that includes a stunning special teams flourish.

He scoffs because of the minimal spotlight that the Chiefs of their era received since they won just three playoff games in his time here.

And because there’s little doubt that the process has worked against Lewis and Cherry, who were the marquee players in a secondary also fortified by Kevin Ross and Lloyd Burruss that Sports Illustrated’s estimable Paul Zimmerman in 1987 suggested “may be the best ever.”

“Whatever happens,” Lewis said Wednesday, “I’m going to still feel like I was the best.”

With ample reason.

It’s not just that despite opponents learning to avoid him Lewis intercepted 42 passes. Or that he forced 13 fumbles and recovered 13 more.

He also blocked as many punts (11) as anyone in NFL history … to say nothing of having once tackled a punter and another time swatting the ball away from a would-be punter’s foot before he made contact.

Lewis also affected dozens of other kicks, former Chiefs defensive backs coach Tony Dungy said earlier this week, because he had punters punting so fast and made special teams coaches frantic.

“He’d just take off from 10 yards away,” Cherry said, “and it seemed like he was just floating in the air.”

(Under special teams coach Frank Gansz, starters often had prominent roles on special teams. Cherry had his own share of significant special teams plays to go with his 50 interceptions and 14 fumble recoveries. So he’s third in franchise history behind Hall of Famers Robinson and Thomas in interceptions and among the team’s career leaders in fumble recoveries. “He’s done everything he could have done” to go in the Hall of Fame,” Lewis said. “I don’t see many free safeties in the league who have done more.”)

For his part, Lewis laughed as he recalled his reluctance to play the role of designated punt blocker. He told Gansz he was worried he’d look stupid before the team by roughing the punter.

But after he let up in a game with a chance to block one, Gansz called him into his office and talked about the play privately.

When that play came up in film study, Gansz told the unit that “we’ve already talked about that.” Lewis felt understood … and ultimately liberated to cut loose and take enormous pride in that job.

Longtime NFL writer and Hall of Fame voter Rick Gosselin, who covered the Chiefs for UPI and The Star, wrote in 2018 that if there were a Hall of Fame for special teams players Lewis already would be in it.

When we spoke the other day, Gosselin also reiterated another point that he made in the piece he wrote four years ago: Lewis was as good a cover corner as he’s ever seen.

That was because of his combination of great speed, size (6-foot-2, 196 pounds) and wingspan (35-inch arms) to go with a 38-inch vertical leap and finely honed instincts.

Lewis had the ability to jam at the line of scrimmage, what Cherry called “unbelievable” catch-up speed and the anticipation that came with the zealous devotion to film study and self-improvement that they shared.

When I asked Lewis what he thought the key to being able to shut down receivers was, he immediately said, “Invention. I had to invent things. I had to create.”

In the process, he studied not only the playbook and his own capacities but the muscle movement of great athletes from Muhammad Ali to Michael Jordan to … Secretariat.

“He was the Muhammad Ali of horse racing,” Lewis said. “He had great will.”

Those who went up against Lewis, who played his last five seasons for the Raiders, saw him exert his own will.

Jerry Rice, the NFL career receiving leader, once told longtime NFL writer Peter King that Lewis had been the toughest defender he ever went against.

In that 2009 piece, King wrote that Lewis was “probably the best kick-blocker” in NFL history “and best cover corner in the eighties until Deion Sanders entered the league.”

But maybe nobody offers stronger testimony than Dungy, who spent 28 years coaching in the NFL that included head coaching jobs in Indianapolis and Tampa Bay.

“I’ve coached a lot of great ones,” said Dungy, also a current Hall of Fame voter. “But I would put Albert right up there with (Pittsburgh Hall of Famers) Mel Blount and Donnie Shell.”

For that matter, Dungy said no one he ever coached — and that includes the likes of Hall of Famer Peyton Manning among other superstars — consistently graded higher than Lewis.

Under Marty Schottenheimer’s system in Kansas City, he explained, you rated a plus if you did your job, a minus if you had a problem and a zero if you weren’t involved in the play.

Lewis would be “plus, plus, plus, plus doing his job; he’d get a minus once a half,” Dungy said, laughing. “It was just ridiculous.”

So was having four Pro Bowl players in the same secondary — including two with obvious Hall of Fame credentials … and one whose best chance may be right now.

Lewis, a two-time All-Pro, is up against five other defensive backs in a 28-man group that includes first-year-eligible Darrelle Revis.

Some consider Revis a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But it’s interesting to note that he had just 29 interceptions in his career along the way to being named a four-time All-Pro.

Part of the argument for him will be that no one threw his way after a certain time. The same absolutely should be said about Lewis, though, who had 13 more interceptions.

Trouble is, that was long ago and off the radar from the limelight Revis has received from a career spent mostly with the New York Jets and as a Super Bowl champion in his one season with the Patriots.

This isn’t to denigrate Revis’ credentials but to illuminate those of Lewis, who in the same market or circumstances would surely enjoy the same kind of support Revis figures to get.

Here’s hoping that Lewis’ last chance before entering the senior pool rates the same kind of opportunity that Revis will enjoy in his first.

And that Lewis will get a pleasant surprise by entering the next phase next week.