Marcedes Lewis ventures from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree about every six weeks.
The 41-year-old makes the trek to the desert, he said Wednesday, to “relax and just be intentional about my life moving forward.”
The trips are on hold for now.
Lewis had just returned to L.A. on Monday when he received a call from a Denver number. He didn’t answer. Another call. It was Broncos general manager George Paton.
How does a 20th professional season sound?
“They asked if I could hop on a flight tonight and I was like, ‘of course,’” Lewis told reporters here, after his first practice with the Broncos as a member of the practice squad. “I probably got here around 11:30 p.m., got to the hotel, did my workout and my physical and everything like that (Tuesday).
“It happened that fast. In a day.”
Lewis, drafted in the first round in 2006, has been waiting for this moment. He said he was at peace with whatever happened and he’d received calls in recent weeks from other teams, but was waiting for the right opportunity.
Here it was. Denver is short on tight ends with Lucas Krull out for most of the rest of the season and Nate Adkins dealing with a left knee injury.
They needed a player, preferably an accomplished blocker. There may be no better over the past decade-plus in the NFL than Lewis.
“When I first started out it was more so catching the ball and doing all that, I was able to do some good things in Jacksonville. I went to Green Bay and it was a little mixed bag of things. Now I’m a point of contact blocker. I take that very serious. Obviously the leadership and leading from the front like I always have in my career.
“Knowing the moment. Making sure we all stay present. As easy as it’s here today, it can be gone tomorrow.”
Lewis played all 17 games for Chicago last year but hadn’t found a home yet this year. He hasn’t caught more than 25 passes in an NFL season since 2013. That was his his eighth year in the NFL and it was also three years before any other player on Denver’s current roster — kicker Wil Lutz in 2016 — debuted in the league.
Head coach Sean Payton, though, said he’d been keeping track of Lewis’s status. He checked with “a mutual friend,” he said Wednesday — that was Fox Sports broadcaster Jay Glazer — who gave a hearty endorsement. Lewis had been working out twice a day. He’s still a physical freak.
Lewis wanted to be on a team for training camp — ”I love camp because I love being around my teammates and feeling that and just building up the gristle in my bones to get ready for war, for the season,” Lewis said — but that didn’t happen. Then he waited. And waited. And waited.
Then came the call from the Broncos.
“It’s big-time,” Lewis said. “When I say I was at peace, I was just in a state of allowing. I’m always in that state. Never forcing or resisting what’s meant to be. To be able to have an opportunity to not just compete but continue to add value to an already talented roster that’s doing some great things this year.”
Payton said reports around the league on Lewis were “unbelievable” both as a player and as a leader.
“I think when he’s 55 years old he’ll still be able to block the ‘D’ gap,” Payton marveled.
His new locker in Denver? Conveniently located immediately next to quarterback Bo Nix’s.
His reputation? Already firmly in place in the Broncos’ locker room.
“It’s one of those things where you can tell he cares and if somebody cares that much to take time away from their family and what they’ve got going on to come and help us out and give us a look or whatever, we’re honored,” said Broncos defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, whose faced Lewis before. “Just the locker room presence, getting a chance to talk to him real quick, it’s just one of those things. You never know where life’s going to take you, but football really is family. …
“Plus he’s like an extra o-lineman. He’s big. He’s going to help our team if we can get him on the field and get him right. ”
Lewis can be elevated from the practice squad up to three times and likely will be sooner than later — he said the Broncos are already giving him installations in “bits and pieces.”
After that, if the Broncos need, they can put him on the 53-man roster. Then, ideally, a postseason run. After that, well, does Year No. 20 make a guy think about 21 and beyond?
“I live my life, like, in windows,” said Lewis, who remarkably has never had a surgical procedure in his career. “It’s always one to three years. I just kind of plan it out that way. Once I got to 15 years, I was like, alright, my body feels really good and I’m still playing at a high level. Let’s see if I can get 18. Got 18 and was like, damn, alright, let’s see if we can get 20.
“So here we are. I still feel really good.”
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