Texans Sign DB Darius Phillips
The Texans have been busy today. After adding offensive tackle Greg Little and linebacker Neville Hewitt, Houston has now signed a defensive back. The team announced that they’ve signed defensive back Darius Phillips.
[RELATED: Texans Sign T Greg Little, LB Neville Hewitt]
Phillips, a former fifth-round pick, spent four seasons in Cincinnati to begin his career. The defensive back got into 47 regular season games for the Bengals, compiling 73 tackles and five interceptions. He saw an inconsistent role on defense during his tenure with the team, but he consistently contributed on special teams, including a 2021 campaign where he returned 25 punts and eight kicks.
After spending the 2022 preseason with the Raiders, Phillips caught on with the Broncos. He ended up getting into nine games with Denver, collecting only a pair of tackles while playing the majority of his snaps on special teams.
The veteran’s best chance at making Houston’s roster will probably come on special teams. However, thanks to his versatility in the secondary, he could catch on as a bottom-of-the-depth-chart cornerback or safety.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/4/23
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: WR Penny Hart
Houston Texans
- Waived/injured: WR Drew Estrada
Indianapolis Colts
- Waived: DE Kameron Cline, TE Nikola Kalinic, LB Forrest Rhyne, DT Chris Williams, TE Jalen Wydermyer
Minnesota Vikings
- Claimed off waivers (from Falcons): CB John Reid
Hart got into 39 games for the Seahawks over the past three years. The majority of his work came on special teams, but he did manage to haul in 11 receptions during his limited snaps on offense. More notably, Hart had 17 special teams tackles over the past two years, including 11 last season.
Meanwhile, the Vikings made a move on a Falcons castoff. Reid got into 24 games for the Texans and Seahawks between 2020 and 2021, but he bounced around the league a bit in 2022. He appeared in three games (one start) with the Titans before catching on with Atlanta’s practice squad late in the season.
Texans Sign T Greg Little, LB Neville Hewitt
The Texans’ offensive line is becoming a popular landing spot for ex-Dolphins. As Laremy Tunsil heads into his fifth season in Houston, the team has also added ex-Miami blocker Michael Deiter. On Thursday, they expanded their number of former Dolphins linemen by signing Greg Little.
A former Panthers second-round pick, Little agreed to terms, per his agent (on Twitter), and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com adds the team also reached an agreement to bring back linebacker Neville Hewitt. The veteran defender and special-teamer agreed to a one-year deal (Twitter link).
Little spent last season with the Dolphins, coming to Florida via a summer 2021 trade from Carolina, started seven games for a Dolphins team that ran into injuries at both tackle spots last season. Little, who did not play in 2021 due to being a healthy scratch and then heading to IR midway through the season, has started 13 career games. The former No. 37 overall pick has not panned out, and with Tunsil and Tytus Howard manning Houston’s tackle spots, Thursday’s agreement will be for depth purposes. But the Ole Miss product could have a path to a swing-tackle role.
Hewitt has spent the past two seasons with the Texans. Despite the team changing head coaches in each of the past three offseasons, Hewitt has returned on one-year deals. This latest one-year pact will keep one of the Texans’ top special-teamers in the fold. Hewitt saw action on 81% of Houston’s special teams plays last season and has been an ST regular throughout his career.
The former Dolphins and Jets linebacker has 44 career starts on his resume, though only five have come in Houston. After working as a 16-game Jets starter in 2020, Hewitt settled in as a primary backup with his third NFL team. Hewitt totaled 60 tackles in 2021. Moved to a special teams-only contributor last season, he tallied 14. The 30-year-old linebacker played just 23 defensive snaps last year — down from 324 in 2021 — but will be back on DeMeco Ryans‘ first Texans team.
Ryans’ team has been busy at linebacker this offseason, signing both Denzel Perryman and Cory Littleton to go with the likes of Christian Kirksey, Christian Harris, Blake Cashman and fifth-round pick Henry To’oTo’o.
Latest On Cards’ Trades With Texans, Titans
A key party in a few teams’ early-round draft machinations, the Cardinals played a particularly important role in what could be long-term AFC South roster construction. They made deals with both the Texans and Titans, equipping each with potential 2020s pillars.
Both teams discussed prospective trades with the Cardinals before the draft. The Titans did not have to give up what it would have cost to move from No. 11 to No. 3 — a climb Tennessee was continually connected to attempting — but they had C.J. Stroud in mind. The new Texans quarterback was the Titans’ target at No. 3, with Albert Breer of SI.com confirming the team dropped out of trade talks after Houston took the Ohio State passer at 2.
The Titans were viewed as high on Stroud, and with the Texans believed to be planning to take a momentous risk — tabling their quarterback need yet again to select an edge rusher — it looked like Tennessee could have a clear path to trading up for its preferred passer. But Nick Caserio confirmed (via NBC Sports’ Peter King) his team had decided on Stroud at No. 2. That decision ran counter to just about every Texans-centric report leading up to the draft. Though, reports of Houston’s defensive end intent were not entirely inaccurate, given how the team proceeded at No. 3.
Although Caserio taking Stroud at No. 2 removed a buyer for 3 in the Titans, the Texans still traded a monster haul to land the Cardinals’ No. 3 choice. Houston gave up No. 33, along with first- and third-round picks in 2024. The Texans held two 2024 firsts, thanks to the historic Deshaun Watson package, and Houston’s first — not Cleveland’s — now belongs to Arizona. The Texans’ lengthy rebuild process has involved top-three draft real estate in each of the past three drafts, running a risk the team gave a prime draft asset for a non-quarterback in Will Anderson Jr. Two of the three Browns first-rounders acquired in the Watson trade ended up going toward Anderson.
Caserio and former Patriots coworker Monti Ossenfort had engaged in pre-draft talks about a trade involving the Nos. 3 and 12 picks, Breer adds, and King confirms the Cards and Texans agreed to the swap with “close to a minute left” on the clock.
“It helped that I had a personal relationship with Nick Caserio in Houston,” Ossenfort said during an appearance on the Dave Pasch Podcast (via AZCardinals.com). “… There was some back and forth there and the clock’s going, the clock’s going, and I think it was around two-and-a-half minutes where we have a couple of [different] deals up written up on the board [with] a couple of teams and it’s ‘OK, Nick, I think we’re at a spot where we are close here. It’s this and this for this, this and this. Are you in?’ ‘Yeah, I’m in.’ And it’s ‘OK, great, call it in.'”
Ossenfort had planned on trading back up and called multiple teams in order to secure Paris Johnson draft real estate. After talks with fellow former coworker Dave Ziegler did not produce a deal with the Raiders, Ossenfort found a taker in the Lions, allowing them to avoid taking Jahmyr Gibbs at No. 6.
The Cardinals and Titans revisited their talks Friday, and GM Ran Carthon pivoted to the freefalling Will Levis. The Titans had discussed a deal to move back into Round 1, with Levis as the target, with Breer adding they discussed the move with the Bills — at No. 27 — late Thursday night. The Titans were one of many teams trying to move back into the first round, and teams also made offers to the Steelers for 32. The Titans may well have been one of those to send the Steelers a proposal for 32, but they ended up trading 2023 and 2024 third-rounders to climb eight spots to 33 for the Kentucky QB.
This draft brought some notable what-ifs regarding the non-Jaguars wing of the AFC South, seeing as the Colts were tied to Levis for weeks only to have been preparing an Anthony Richardson pick for a while. Should Stroud, Richardson and Levis become surefire starters, this will certainly go down as one of the most pivotal drafts in the AFC South’s 22-year history.
Texans Sign TE Eric Tomlinson
The Texans are adding to a crowded tight ends room today, bringing on veteran tight end Eric Tomlinson, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. The seven-year journeyman has never been much of a pass catcher but will provide some critical blocking in Houston next year. 
Tomlinson heads to his seventh team after time with the Jets, Patriots, Giants (two stints), Raiders, Ravens, and Broncos. He follows Texans tight ends coach Jake Moreland, who served in the same position last year in Denver, where Tomlinson made 12 starts in 17 appearances. He had previously spent a year and a half as a part of the Ravens bruising rushing attack.
He joins a room that currently rosters Dalton Schultz, Teagan Quitoriano, Brevin Jordan, Mason Schreck, and Andrew Beck. Schultz and Jordan are the primary pass-catching tight ends. Quitoriano and Beck have both historically been more run blockers, with Beck joining Tomlinson in the move from Denver this offseason. Schreck hasn’t seen enough game action to say what his role could be, but he was a strong receiver in college.
This means Tomlinson will have some competition for his current role. It’s hard to picture the Texans keeping more than three or four tight ends on the 53-man roster come September. With Schultz and Jordan in the passing attack, that leaves Quitoriano, Tomlinson, Beck, and Schreck battling it out for maybe two open roster slots.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/2/23
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:
Houston Texans
- Claimed (from Jaguars): S Tyree Gillespie
Indianapolis Colts
- Waived: RB Darrynton Evans, RB Aaron Shampklin, CB David Vereen, WR Kristian Wilkerson
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: WR Malik Flowers
- Waived: Derrick Gore, QB Jake Luton
The Colts added Evans, a former Titans third-round pick, earlier this offseason. The team still has Zack Moss and Deon Jackson on its roster behind Jonathan Taylor; Indianapolis also drafted Evan Hull in the fifth round. Gillespie, who was briefly with the Titans last summer, is only a Colts agreement away from the AFC South cycle.
Luton spent last season with the Saints, residing both on their practice squad and active roster. A former sixth-round pick, the Oregon State product’s last game action came with the Jaguars in 2020. Gore gained 256 rushing yards for the Chiefs in 2021; he joined Luton on the Saints’ P-squad for the second half of last season. The Saints have since signed Jamaal Williams and used a third-round pick on TCU’s Kendre Miller. Veteran special-teamer Dwayne Washington and Eno Benjamin also reside on New Orleans’ roster.
Flowers, a 6-foot-2 receiver out of Montana, joins the team’s UDFA class. The Division I-FCS product holds the Big Sky conference record for kick-return yards, averaging 28.9 per return. Flowers finished his college career with an eye-popping seven kick-return touchdowns. The seven TDs match current Saint wideout Rashid Shaheed‘s FCS record.
2023 NFL Draft Results: Team By Team
As the 2023 NFL Draft gets underway, we will keep track of each team’s haul here:
Arizona Cardinals
Round 1, No. 6 (from Rams through Lions): Paris Johnson, OT (Ohio State) (signed)
Round 2, No. 41 (from Titans): BJ Ojulari, DE (LSU) (signed)
Round 3, No. 72 (from Titans): Garrett Williams, CB (Syracuse) (signed)
Round 3, No. 94 (from Eagles): Michael Wilson, WR (Stanford) (signed)
Round 4, No. 122 (from Dolphins through Chiefs and Lions): Jon Gaines II, G (UCLA) (signed)
Round 5, No. 139 (from Broncos through Lions): Clayton Tune, QB (Houston) (signed)
Round 5, No. 168 (from Cardinals through Lions): Owen Pappoe, LB (Auburn) (signed)
Round 5, No. 180: Kei’Trel Clark, CB (Louisville) (signed)
Round 6, No. 213: Dante Stills, DT (West Virginia) (signed)
Atlanta Falcons
Round 1, No. 8: Bijan Robinson, RB (Texas) (signed)
Round 2, No. 38 (from Colts): Matthew Bergeron, T (Syracuse) (signed)
Round 3, No. 75: Zach Harrison, DE (Ohio State) (signed)
Round 4, No. 113: Clark Phillips III, CB (Utah) (signed)
Round 7, No. 224 (from Raiders): DeMarcco Hellams, S (Alabama) (signed)
Round 7, No. 225: Jovaughn Gwyn, G (South Carolina) (signed)
Baltimore Ravens
Round 1, No. 22: Zay Flowers, WR (Boston College) (signed)
Round 3, No. 86: Trenton Simpson, LB (Clemson) (signed)
Round 4, No. 124: Tavius Robinson, LB (Ole Miss) (signed)
Round 5, No. 157: Kyu Blu Kelly, CB (Stanford) (signed)
Round 6, No. 199: Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, OT (Oregon) (signed)
Round 7, No. 229 (from Browns): Andrew Vorhees, G (USC) (signed)
Buffalo Bills
Round 1, No. 25 (from Giants through Jaguars): Dalton Kincaid, TE (Utah) (signed)
Round 2, No. 59: O’Cyrus Torrence, G (Florida) (signed)
Round 3, No, 91: Dorian Williams, LB (Tulane) (signed)
Round 5, No. 150 (from Commanders): Justin Shorter, WR (Florida) (signed)
Round 7, No. 230 (from Buccaneers through Jets, Texans, Eagles and Bills): Nick Broeker, G (Ole Miss) (signed)
Round 7, No. 252 (from Buccaneers through Rams): Alex Austin, CB (Oregon State) (signed)
Carolina Panthers
Round 1, No. 1 (from Bears): Bryce Young, QB (Alabama) (signed)
Round 2, No. 39: Jonathan Mingo, WR (Ole Miss) (signed)
Round 3, No. 80 (from Steelers): D.J. Johnson, DE (Oregon) (signed)
Round 4, No. 114: Chandler Zavala, G (North Carolina State) (signed)
Round 5, No. 145: Jammie Robinson, S (Florida State) (signed)
Chicago Bears
Round 1, No. 10 (from Saints through Eagles): Darnell Wright, OT (Tennessee) (signed)
Round 2, No. 53 (from Ravens): Gervon Dexter, DT (Florida) (signed)
Round 2, No. 56 (from Jaguars): Tyrique Stevenson, CB (Miami) (signed)
Round 3, No. 64: Zacch Pickens, DT (South Carolina) (signed)
Round 4, No. 115 (from Saints): Roschon Johnson, RB (Texas) (signed)
Round 4, No. 133 (from Eagles): Tyler Scott, WR (Cincinnati) (signed)
Round 5, No. 148 (from Patriots through Ravens): Noah Sewell, LB (Oregon) (signed)
Round 5, No. 165 (from Saints through Eagles): Terell Smith, CB (Minnesota) (signed)
Round 7, No. 218: Travis Bell, DT (Kennesaw State) (signed)
Round 7, No. 258: Kendall Williamson, S (Stanford) (signed)
Cincinnati Bengals
Round 1, No. 28: Myles Murphy, DE (Clemson) (signed)
Round 2, No. 60: DJ Turner, CB (Michigan) (signed)
Round 3, No. 95 (from Chiefs): Jordan Battle, S (Alabama) (signed)
Round 4, No. 131: Charlie Jones, WR (Purdue) (signed)
Round 5, No. 163: Chase Brown, RB (Illinois) (signed)
Round 6, No. 206: Andrei Iosivas, WR (Princeton) (signed)
Round 6, No. 217 (from Chiefs): Brad Robbins, P (Michigan) (signed)
Round 7, No. 246: DJ Ivey, CB (Miami) (signed)
Texans Acquire No. 69 From Rams
The Texans have moved up to the 69th spot, swapping with the Rams. In exchange, Los Angeles will receive picks Nos. 73 and 151, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). Houston has used the pick to add wide receiver Nathaniel Dell.
Dell, nicknamed “Tank,” put together a highly productive career at the University of Houston. Between the 2021 and ’22 campaigns, he totaled 199 catches, 2,727 yards and 29 touchdowns. He led the AAC in receiving in each season, and ranked first in the country in yards last year.
Those massive figures made him one of the top options in this year’s receiver class. Questions have understandably been asked, though, about his ability to translate his production to the NFL level. Dell’s frame (5-foot-8, 165 pounds) is likely to limit his usage to the slot in the pro game.
Still, he should be able to find a role with the Texans, a team which lacked in pass-catchers last season. They added veteran Robert Woods in free agency and have 2022 second-rounder John Metchie on track to make his NFL debut in 2023. Dell will add further to a Houston offense which has now seen a number of additions during the draft.
The most impactful of those, of course, was the team’s decision to select C.J. Stroud second overall. The Ohio State alum will be tasked with solidifying the quarterback position for the long-term, something which will be made easier with an improved skill position group. Dell – who has experience as a kick and punt returner in addition to his success on offense – figures to play a part in the effort to add impact offensive players. If he can alleviate his size concerns, the former Cougar could prove to be a highly effective addition.
Texans Acquire No. 62 From Eagles, Draft C Juice Scruggs
The Eagles fielded calls on moving back from No. 30. With the penultimate pick in the second round, the defending NFC champions will slide down a bit. The Texans moved up to No. 62. To move down three spots to No. 65, the Eagles will pick up Nos. 188 and 230. The Texans will take Penn State offensive lineman Juice Scruggs.
Scruggs continues a bit of a second-round run on centers, slotting in as the third center off the board behind Wisconsin’s Joe Tippmann and Minnesota’s John Michael Schmitz. The third Nittany Lion off the board, and the second in as many picks, Scruggs brings ideal size, strength, and acumen to Houston.
Scruggs had to come back from a serious car accident in 2019, suffering a break of his L3 vertebra after being thrown from the vehicle in the wreck. Instead of risking spinal surgery that could end his career, he allowed it to heal naturally and slowly, eventually rehabbing back into playing shape. He returned to become a captain in Happy Valley.
Scruggs reads defenses well before the snap and masterfully reacts to defensive line stunts and twists. He has strength to push blocks into the next level, but when overpowered, Scruggs can struggle to recover.
After releasing Justin Britt, the Texans re-signed Scott Quessenberry, who ranked dead last in the NFL out of 36 qualifying centers, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). This should provide Scruggs with an immediate starting opportunity at center in 2023. If not, Scruggs can provide some strong competition or depth on the interior with experience at both center and guard at Penn State.
Texans Acquire No. 3 From Cardinals, Select LB Will Anderson Jr.
After selecting C.J. Stroud with the second overall pick, the Texans are also moving up to No. 3. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (via Twitter), Houston has acquired the third overall pick from the Cardinals. The Texans will use that selection on Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter passes along the terms of the trade (via Twitter). The Texans have acquired picks No. 3 and No. 105 while sending Arizona picks No. 12, No. 33, a 2024 first-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick.
This move comes as little surprise given previous reporting on the Texans’ desire to add Anderson, seen by some as the top defender in the class (and, more generally, their intention of trading up from No. 12). Many felt he could be the second overall pick, but Houston has been aggressive in ensuring it acquired Anderson while also adding a franchise QB.
While the team got there in a roundabout way — one that cost considerable draft capital — it landed its quarterback and prized edge defender. The team was believed to be deciding between Anderson and Texas Tech’s Tyree Wilson, who ended up going to the Raiders at No. 7. Houston’s trade-up certainly showed what the franchise thinks of the ex-Crimson Tide star. Anderson is likely to take on a large role in the team’s defense right away, given his track record from college.
The junior won the Bronko Nagurski award in each of the past two years as the top defender in the country. Anderson had massive production in 2021 with 17.5 sacks and 31 tackles for loss. Those figures took a dip this past season, though, to 10 and 17 respectively. Still, Anderson racked up a number of individual accolades and projects as the safest option in a deep edge-rushing group this year. He should be a mainstay early on in his career with the Texans, a team which already looks much different than it did at the start of the day.
For the Cardinals, it comes as no surprise that they have moved down the board. Arizona is likely headed for a rebuild, so adding capital both this year and next outweighs the benefit which Anderson (or another high-end defender) would present. They will wait to see what options take shape at No. 12, though an impact rookie will surely be available regardless of how the board shakes out.