I scored a game-used jersey of my biggest name yet in this Dion Lewis 2011 Eagles jersey.

The jersey was advertised as being game-used from Dion’s rookie year and the seller’s photos showed that it had tons of damage. I pulled up Dion’s 2011 statistical game log and fired up some image searches. Boom! A photo from Dion’s NFL debut against the Rams shows a large, distinct gouge on the back number 2 that was a perfect match to the jersey in the seller’s photo. Dion had a fruitful career - 100 games across 8 seasons, 5,000 all-purpose yards, and a Super Bowl ring - so I had to jump on it. I paid a little more for this one than the average jersey in my collection but I still got it at a discount.

The jersey has 6 repairs, including one that’s several inches long and another that’s a repair of a patch. Being a kick returner will cause your jersey to suffer that kind of punishment. I spent several hours combing through photos to compare jersey details like sweat holes and stitch patterns, and I can say with 100% confidence that Dion wore this jersey in all 6 games in 2011 in which the Eagles wore this variation. Total stat count is below along with a photomatch record.

Rushes: 8
Yards: 29
Receptions: 1
Yards: -3
Kick Returns: 15
Kick Return Yards: 329

Tackled by: James Laurinaitis, Brian Orakpo, London Fletcher, Osi Umenyiora, Jason Pierre-Paul, Earl Thomas

Week 1 (9/11/11) at St Louis
Getty Image 125234242

Week 2 (9/18/11) at Atlanta
Getty Image 126059869

Week 5 (10/9/11) at Buffalo
No photomatch, but low odds he would’ve worn a different jersey this week

Week 6 (10/16/24) at Washington
Getty Image 129383605

Week 11 (11/20/11) at NYG
AP Image 11112016048

Week 13 (12/1/11) at Seattle
Getty Image 137370185