Eagles backup Thad Lewis has been around

Trace the NFL career of Thaddeus Lewis, the man who may be one snap away from becoming the Eagles' starting quarterback, and it appears as if he set out to spend a little time with every franchise in the league, working his way from the bottom up.

The St. Louis Rams signed him as a free agent in 2010, then released him. The Cleveland Browns claimed him off waivers in September 2012, waived him a month later, signed him to their practice squad two days after that, and started him in that season's final game after their Nos. 1 and 2 quarterbacks, Brandon Weeden and Colt McCoy, suffered injuries. The Browns waived Lewis in May 2013. The Detroit Lions signed him later that month. Three months later, the Buffalo Bills traded a linebacker to the Lions to acquire Lewis. He played in six games for the Bills, starting five, winning two, before they released him in August 2014.

The Houston Texans signed him last November but released him before he played a game for them. The Browns signed him again in March and cut him in September, meaning Lewis had been with four teams over five years - four teams that have a total of eight winning seasons and two playoff victories since 2003. Two weeks into this season, the Eagles signed him. They should be flattered that it took him so long to join them.

"Hopefully," he said Tuesday, "I've done enough in my career that people know I can play."

He had done enough, in the Eagles' eyes anyway, to render irrelevant one of the team's most pressing questions during training camp and the preseason: Would the third quarterback be Matt Barkley or Tim Tebow? So many links clicked, so much ink wasted, on whether Chip Kelly would opt for Tebow's particular set of skills or Barkley's more traditional pedigree, and Kelly ended up cutting the former, trading the latter, and trusting the insight of offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, who had coached Lewis in Cleveland.

The Eagles' game Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could turn out to be a major test of Kelly's trust in Shurmur, and Shurmur's trust in Lewis. Having been concussed and having sprained his left AC joint in that ugly loss to the Dolphins last Sunday, Sam Bradford did not practice Tuesday. It's possible he'll be cleared to play against the Buccaneers, but the safe bet is that Mark Sanchez will start in his place, which means Lewis will be the No. 2, which means if Sanchez takes the same kind of shot that sidelined Bradford, the Eagles' playoff fortunes would be in the hands of a 6-foot, 200-pound, 27-year-old Duke University alumnus who was a finalist for the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's best quarterback yet, in the same year Bradford was the No. 1 overall pick, went undrafted.

"It's a long road," said Lewis, who has attempted 189 passes in his NFL career, completing 115 (60.8 percent) for 1,296 yards, with five touchdowns and four interceptions. "You have to prove yourself time and time again. It probably would have been different if I'd been drafted. But as an undrafted guy, the NFL is totally a business. You learn that your first year in the league."

Actually, Lewis learned it earlier than that. "My first rep came probably four days into training camp as a rookie," he said. It's the way things go in the NFL. The first-round picks get preference, because so many more resources - money and scouting, especially - have been invested in them, so much more is riding on their success. In Buffalo, it was E.J. Manuel. In Detroit, it was Matthew Stafford. In St. Louis, it was Bradford. In Cleveland, it was Weeden, whom the Browns drafted 22d overall in 2012, and McCoy, a third-round pick in 2010.

Lewis was the Browns' third-stringer in 2012, when Shurmur was their head coach. Only when Weeden suffered a concussion and McCoy injured his shoulder did Lewis get a chance to start, in Week 17 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He threw for 204 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in a 24-10 loss.

"Played a pretty gritty game," Shurmur said. "He gets it. He understands the game. He's got a live arm. He can move around well, and he's really taken to what we've done offensively."

Lewis estimated that he needed three weeks, once he signed with the Eagles, to commit the intricacies of Kelly's system to memory. He took six actual reps at practice Tuesday. Sanchez took the rest. Lewis was not about to complain. "If you're a cancer in someone's locker room," he said, "people won't keep you around." Besides, as disheartening as their season has been, the Eagles at least still have a chance to make the playoffs. Compared to the rest of Thad Lewis's career, this hell is heaven.

msielski@phillynews.com

@MikeSielski