I can't stand Richard for preventing him from starting..
Hell, he's our second best CB...
That's a fan narrative but there is no game footage showing that Lewis should be one of the top 2 CBs.
The requirements of playing outside CB are much different than the snaps he played in 2018 as the 4th (Dime CB) or filling in at Nickel CB for 2 games.
In 2017 he was not very good on the outside. He made a few splash plays that looked good but he got burned many times.
Lewis and Brown both played around 800 snaps in 2017. Lewis had 1 INT and Brown had 2.
Many fans have exclaimed that Lewis "shut down" Kamara last year as the Dime CB; however, he only played 8 snaps in that game...
I would agree that there is also no solid proof that Brown is better at Nickel CB than Lewis. Lewis did play 2 complete games as the "starting" Nickel CB in 2018; therefore there is good game footage of him playing Nickel CB in the Kris Richard scheme.
Brown is barely bigger than Lewis (1" taller, similar arm length and weight). If there is physical reason that Brown is ahead of him it's Brown's 4.35 forty vs Lewis 4.54 forty more than the minimal size difference.