FOXBORO — Things were supposed to be different in Cleveland. After two years of sitting on the bench, Dion Lewis was ready to step out of the shadows and show the NFL what he could do.

The running back didn’t get that chance in Philadelphia, where he was stuck behind LeSean McCoy on the depth chart. After being traded to the Browns, Lewis was ready for a new chapter. He certainly got one, but his story didn’t go as planned.

On Aug. 15, 2013, Lewis suffered a broken fibula in a preseason game against the Detroit Lions — an injury that set Lewis off on a new journey, one full of self-discovery. The 26-year-old isn’t much of a talker. He knows that actions speak louder than words.

He also understands how negative thoughts can adversely affect an athlete when hardship strikes. During this time, the Albany, N.Y., native learned how to battle back when everything around him was falling apart. It’s a lesson that’s served him well with the Patriots.

“I think breaking his leg was big for him. Not only physically, but mentally,” said Jared Fortier, a childhood friend of Lewis'. “It was the first major injury he had. It affected him, but he realized NFL stands for ‘not for long’ so there’s no reason to sit and pout about it. He went back to work and rehabbed like he should’ve and really bounced back.”

Lewis bounced back with the Patriots, but after going through two knee injuries and two separate surgeries in the past year, he’s relied on these lessons he learned three years ago in Cleveland. When faced with adversity again, he hit back as hard as he runs.

“In life you go through a lot of ups and downs. Nothing is really handed to you,” Lewis said. “Obviously, I broke my leg before so I’ve been through that. I know that I could [overcome injury again]. I’ve overcome a lot of things. You’ve got to keep pushing.”

Ready to work

Lewis was on top of the world last season. The same could be said for his friends and family.

After suffering the broken leg, the running back was out of football for two years. He returned last year with the Patriots and didn’t miss a beat. His moves on the field were so dynamic that teammates nicknamed him “joystick” because he looked like a video game character.

The feel-good story ended prematurely when he suffered a torn ACL in Week Nine.

Lewis’ friend Fortier is also the director of marketing at JR Sports Enterprises, the agency that represents the running back. He remembers the one thing that made him feel better after the injury — Lewis himself.

“After he tore his ACL against the Redskins, me, [agent] JR [Rickert] and his family were devastated,” Fortier said. “We got a chance to talk to him that night and just talking to him and you talk to him for five minutes about the injury and you realize everything was going to be OK. He never got too down. That’s the thing with Dion. He never gets too high and never gets too low.”

Lewis was operated on by Dr. James Andrews on Nov. 18 of last year in Pensacola, Fla., and he started rehabbing “the next day” after his surgery and stayed in Florida for two weeks before returning to Foxboro.

It’s not uncommon for professional athletes to go elsewhere for their training or rehabilitation. In the past, Lewis trained in Albany and out in Arizona. But after the surgery, he was hell-bent on proving to the Patriots that he was willing to work, so he returned to Foxboro and worked with the team training staff as soon as he could.

“I’m going to work regardless,” Lewis said. “I just wanted to be here, let them know how hard I’m working so they could see the progress I was making.”

Fortier and Lewis met when they were 12 in Albany. He said he wasn’t surprised by his friend’s attitude.

“He’s always had an unflappable personality,” Fortier said. “He’s just very, very level headed.”

Injury bug bites again

Lewis was scheduled to join his teammates at training camp this summer before disaster struck again.

On July 15, while running sprints in Foxboro, Lewis felt discomfort in his surgically repaired left knee. He wasn’t overly concerned at first and returned to the workout, but the pain remained. It turned out that Lewis suffered a stress fracture less than two weeks from the start of camp.

“We were shocked by it. Rehab was going great for his ACL,” Fortier said. “That’s when he went back to Florida to see James Andrews. It was devastating, but hearing the calm in his voice, it made you feel better. Like I said, he’s unflappable. He doesn’t let things get to him. He looks forward and doesn’t look behind him.”

That calm in Lewis’ voice also resonated with his teammates when the injury happened.

“You could tell he was like, ‘I’ve been through it once already.’ He wasn’t really worried about it,” Patriots running back Brandon Bolden said. “Even when he did it, like you could tell, he was in pain, but he really wasn’t sweating. He already knew the steps of what to do. It’s more of a testament for him to be mentally ready and physically ready for what he was already going through.”

On Aug. 22, Lewis had his second knee surgery in less than a year. Unlike the ACL surgery, Lewis wasn’t rehabbing the next day. But as soon as he could, he was back at Gillette Stadium with the team trainers.

“It obviously sucked because I was ready to go [for training camp],” Lewis said. “Just got to keep it one day at a time. That’s how I approach life. I don’t really look ahead at things. When things happen, I just take it in and then deal with it. I don’t think about this could happen or what’s going to happen with this, I just take it one day at a time. That’s just how I do things.”

“Injuries, they’re mentally and physically tolling. They’ll take a toll on your body and your mind,” Fortier added. “That’s where he [stands out]. This mentality he’s had was way before he got drafted by the Eagles. He had it as a child. It followed him throughout his whole life.”

Full-speed ahead

Lewis hasn’t taken much time off over the past year.

When he wasn’t at Gillette Stadium working with the trainers, you could usually find him at home watching all the Patriots games he wasn’t able to play in. These were the worst moments for Lewis. It wasn’t the rehab, since he knew what he had to do to get back. It was watching his teammates play the first nine games of this season without him.

“I don’t really think that anything really gets to me. I try to have a positive mindset for everything," Lewis said. “I try to stay as positive as possible and avoid conflict. And play football. That’s what I like to do. The toughest thing about all this is not being able to play. I don’t care about my body or anything. I just want to play football.”

That was evident to his teammates. When they were practicing, Lewis wasn’t far behind. He could be seen on a field near his teammates getting ready. The 26-year-old never missed a day of his rehab. Even before Lewis made his 2016 season debut, his teammates were confident that’d he make an impact.

“He’s a resilient guy. He’s strong-willed. He’s a determined person,” LeGarrette Blount said. “He was here every single day. He didn’t miss one workout. He was here every single day and everything that they told him that they needed him to do, he did it and more. He’s a grinder.”

“He worked extremely hard. You see him working outside when we were doing stuff on the field and what not,” James White added. “He’s a strong-minded person. Faced a little bit of adversity and you just have to look at it in a positive way. God doesn’t put anything in front of you that you can’t handle so he went out and he attacked the recovery process.”

Lewis will play his third game of the season on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams. He’ll be out there running as hard as his body lets him. Lewis only knows one speed, whether he’s on the football field or dealing with adversity off it.

“I’m the same person no matter what I’m going through,” Lewis said. “And I’m going to keep fighting.”