Ozzie Newsome, Ravens general manager

<a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="ORSPT000161" title="Baltimore Ravens" href="/topic/sports/football/baltimore-ravens-ORSPT000161.topic">Ravens</a> general manager <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PESPT005395" title="Ozzie Newsome" href="/topic/sports/ozzie-newsome-PESPT005395.topic">Ozzie Newsome</a> never will forget the first time he saw Lewis when he was a blue-chip <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="EVSPR000103" title="NFL Draft" href="/topic/sports/football/nfl-draft-EVSPR000103.topic">NFL draft</a> prospect.<br>
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Newsome was studying film of a Miami-Baylor game, and Lewis' style jumped off the screen at him.<br>
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"Normally you can just watch a game and have to put a highlight tape together. He made every play," Newsome said. "Every play. I've never seen anybody make every play in the game. It was the Baylor game -- I got it etched in my mind."<br>
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The Ravens wound up selecting Lewis in the first round of the 1996 NFL draft with the 26th overall selection before their inaugural season in Baltimore.<br>
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"We needed linebackers," Newsome said. "Maxie [Baughan, then the linebackers coach] had gone down and worked him out, and we really liked him. It just fell that way. He was the highest-rated guy at a position of need. He's a friend of mine. He's a warrior. He's one of the most unbelievable leaders I've ever been around. He's a man's man. I've enjoyed the ride with him. The relationship he and I have now, I think, will carry on for years."<br>
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-- Aaron Wilson

( Algerina Perna, Baltimore Sun / February 7, 2013 )

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome never will forget the first time he saw Lewis when he was a blue-chip NFL draft prospect.

Newsome was studying film of a Miami-Baylor game, and Lewis' style jumped off the screen at him.

"Normally you can just watch a game and have to put a highlight tape together. He made every play," Newsome said. "Every play. I've never seen anybody make every play in the game. It was the Baylor game -- I got it etched in my mind."

The Ravens wound up selecting Lewis in the first round of the 1996 NFL draft with the 26th overall selection before their inaugural season in Baltimore.

"We needed linebackers," Newsome said. "Maxie [Baughan, then the linebackers coach] had gone down and worked him out, and we really liked him. It just fell that way. He was the highest-rated guy at a position of need. He's a friend of mine. He's a warrior. He's one of the most unbelievable leaders I've ever been around. He's a man's man. I've enjoyed the ride with him. The relationship he and I have now, I think, will carry on for years."

-- Aaron Wilson

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