HEADLINES

Neville Hewitt

Texans Re-Sign LB Neville Hewitt

March 26th, 2022 at 6:24pm CST by Ely Allen

The Texans are bringing back a key contributor from Lovie Smith‘s defense from last year. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Houston is bringing back linebacker Neville Hewitt on a one-year deal. 

Hewitt performed admirably in a single season try out for the Texans last year. The seventh-year undrafted player out of Marshall played the third-most snaps for Houston’s linebackers behind starters Christian Kirksey and Kamu Grugier-Hill, racking up five starts along the way.

Hewitt did enough coming out of college in 2015 to sign on as a free agent with the Dolphins as a rookie. After increasing his role in Year Two, the Dolphins waived Hewitt, stashing him on the practice squad for most of the 2017 season.

In 2018, Hewitt signed a one-year contract with the Jets, starting four games in his first season in New York. Hewitt broke out a bit over the next two years, stepping in to start all 28 games he appeared in with injuries to players like C.J. Mosley providing the opportunity for him to show what he could do. In 2020, Hewitt led the Jets in tackles with a career-high 134, adding 2.0 sacks, four passes defensed, and one interception to the stat sheet, as well.

The productive year in New York earned him a one-year contract with Houston in May of last year. With Kirksey and Grugier-Hill both set to return, as well, the Texans bring back their top three linebackers, providing a nice bit of defensive familiarity for Lovie Smith to start his head coaching tenure in Houston.

NFL COVID-19 List Updates: 12/29/21

December 29th, 2021 at 3:19pm CST by Sam Robinson

Several key players returned to practice Wednesday. Here are the latest COVID-19 updates from around the league:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: WR Rico Bussey

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Texans, LB Neville Hewitt Agree To Deal

May 7th, 2021 at 1:46pm CST by Sam Robinson

Yet another Texans one-year linebacker deal will commence this offseason. Veteran linebacker Neville Hewitt agreed to terms with the team Friday, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

Hewitt arrived in Houston on Thursday for a visit; the meeting produced an accepted offer. The six-year vet spent the first four seasons of his career as a backup, working primarily in a reserve capacity for the Dolphins and Jets. But he operated as a starter for the past two years.

The 28-year-old off-ball ‘backer will join several new arrivals at the position for the Texans. They have agreed to deals with Christian Kirksey, Tae Davis, Kamu Grugier-Hill, Joe Thomas, Hardy Nickerson and ex-Hewitt Jets teammate Kevin Pierre-Louis this offseason. Hewitt, Pierre-Louis and outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins were each part of the 2018 Jets’ linebacking corps.

The Texans will add Hewitt after his best NFL season. The former UDFA finished eighth in the league with 134 tackles; he added six for loss and two sacks. While the Jets went 2-14, Hewitt produced throughout the season and logged a career-high 99% of his team’s defensive snaps.

Although the Texans traded Benardrick McKinney to the Dolphins, they still have starter Zach Cunningham signed long-term. The rest of this lot will vie for the other off-ball linebacker jobs, doing so alongside fifth-round pick Garret Wallow.

Texans Host LB Neville Hewitt

May 6th, 2021 at 10:21pm CST by Ben Levine

Neville Hewitt could be heading west. The free agent linebacker visited with the Texans today, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter).

Despite going undrafted out of Marshall, Hewitt has had a consistent NFL gig since 2015. After spending his first three seasons in Miami, Hewitt joined the Jets back in 2018, and he’s been a staple of their defense ever since.

Following a 2019 campaign that saw him finish with a career-high three sacks, Hewitt arguably had his best NFL campaign in 2020. He ultimately finished the season with 134 tackles (the eighth-highest mark in the league), six tackles for loss, two sacks, and one forced fumble. Hewitt also finished the year having appeared in 99-percent of his team’s defensive snaps, while his previous career-high saw him appear in only 69-percent of his team’s defensive snaps.

Hewitt is a bit of a curious fit in Houston; the Texans have already added seven free agent linebackers, and they added TCU’s Garret Wallow in the fifth-round of last week’s draft. In total, the team currently has 15 linebackers on their roster.

Jets Re-Sign Neville Hewitt

March 20th, 2020 at 2:42pm CST by Zachary Links

Linebacker Neville Hewitt will return to the Jets, as ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter tweets. He’ll sign a new one-year, $2MM deal to suit up for Gang Green in 2020.

Hewitt, 27 in April, spent most of 2017 on the Dolphins’ practice squad, but was promoted for the last six games of the regular season. He played only eleven snaps, but saw 66.5% playtime on special teams.

In 2018, he got a career break with the Jets. Over the last two years, he’s suited up in 16 games for them. There’s been a lot of turnover at the Meadowlands, but the new regime seems to like him as much as the old one.

Jets Notes: Bell, Clowney, Johnson, Kalil, LBs

August 18th, 2019 at 8:43pm CST by Sam Robinson

For a player without a major injury, Le’Veon Bell has gone through a historically light amount of organized football work over the past 19 months. Bell’s game-action delay will continue until Week 1, with Adam Gase indicating (via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com, on Twitter) his top running back will be held out from Jets preseason games. Bell has not played in a game since the Steelers’ divisional-round loss to the Jaguars in January 2018. His most recent regular-season game was Week 16 of that season. Gase had slammed the door nearly shut on Bell seeing preseason reps, but the first-year Jets coach said Avery Williamson‘s season-ending injury finalized that conversation (Twitter link via SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano). For a player who based his ’18 holdout on conservation, this should go along well with his late-2010s M.O.

Here is the Jets latest:

  • Despite the Jets devoting extensive resources to positions that are not typically tabbed as high-value areas, with Bell and C.J. Mosley making out great in free agency, the team largely left its persistent need for edge rushers alone. While Jadeveon Clowney would obviously start for the Jets, were they to make a move for the disgruntled Texans outside linebacker, Cimini writes no trade should be expected. A way it could work: the Jets trade a mid-round pick — worse value than the Texans would have received before the franchise tag extension deadline — and then flip Clowney in a 2020 tag-and-trade. The Jets hold $14.7MM in cap space, so they would have to perform some slight reorganization mechanisms to fit Clowney’s $15.9MM cap figure on their books. For now, the team will head into another season with Brandon Copeland and Jordan Jenkins on the edge.
  • On the inside, Neville Hewitt received the first crack at replacing Williamson. At the Jets’ Green and White scrimmage Sunday night, the four-year veteran — who played 16 Jets games (four starts) last season — lined up in Williamson’s inside ‘backer spot, per Vacchiano (on Twitter). Hewitt’s high-water mark for starts came with the Dolphins in 2016, when the former Miami UDFA started five games.
  • It still appears Bilal Powell, Trenton Cannon and Eli McGuire are competing for two spots. Although the Jets re-signed Powell this offseason, the 30-year-old not playing special teams stands to work against him, Cimini writes. Cannon remains the leading Jets kick-return candidate, pointing to a Bell-McGuire duel for New York’s final running back slot. McGuire is not a key Jets special-teamer, either, and only averaged 3.0 yards per carry last season.
  • Trumaine Johnson‘s adjusted timetable: Week 1. Gase said he is targeting his top cornerback for a return in time for the Jets’ opener. Johnson is dealing with a hamstring injury. He missed six games with leg trouble last year.
  • Not that Ryan Kalil‘s timetable is in question, but the recently signed center had yet to practice with his new team. The Jets deployed him with their first unit (which had some second-stringers sprinkled in) on Sunday night, Cimini adds (via Twitter). The former Panthers snapper has started in the past 12 Week 1s.

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/13/19

March 13th, 2019 at 4:49pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Cleveland Browns

Los Angeles Chargers

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Jets Sign LB Neville Hewitt

March 28th, 2018 at 4:18pm CST by Zachary Links

Free agent linebacker Neville Hewitt signed a one-year contract with the Jets, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Hewitt met with the Jets on Wednesday and it did not take long for a deal to come together.

Hewitt, 24, spent most of 2017 on the Dolphins’ practice squad, but was promoted for the last six games of the regular season. He played only eleven snaps, but saw 66.5% playtime on special teams.

The Dolphins non-tendered Hewitt in March, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent. He projects as a special teams player for the Jets, but their lack of quality options at outside linebacker could net him some time on defense.

As shown on Roster Resource, the Jets currently project to start Josh Martin and Jordan Jenkins at outside linebacker with Avery Williamson and Darron Lee in between. Meanwhile, edge rushers David Bass and Bruce Carter remain in free agency limbo. The Jets are expected to bolster the group in next month’s draft, though not with their No. 3 overall selection.

AFC East Notes: Dolphins, Jets, Pierre-Louis

March 27th, 2018 at 7:44pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Dolphins are searching for help via the trade market at the league meetings in Orlando, according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. Although Miami made several free agent additions over the past two weeks, the club is still hoping to add depth at tight end, linebacker, running back, and defensive tackle, per Salguero. While no trade is imminent, the Dolphins could conceivably trade from their stable of defensive ends. Miami currently has Cameron Wake, Robert Quinn, Charles Harris, William Hayes, and Andre Branch on its depth chart, meaning it could potentially absorb the loss of at least one pass rusher. Branch, who is scheduled to earn a fully guaranteed base salary of $7.9MM in 2018, would be a logical candidate to be moved, per Salguero.

Here’s more from the AFC East:

  • Free agent linebacker Neville Hewitt met with the Jets today, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Hewitt, 24, spent the majority of the 2018 campaign on the Dolphins’ practice squad, but was promoted in time to play the final six games of the regular season. While he played only 11 snaps on defensive snaps, Hewitt saw 66.5% playtime on special teams. Miami opted not to tender Hewitt as a restricted free agent, allowing him to hit the open market two weeks ago. In New York, Hewitt would likely continue with special teams duty, although the Jets’ lack of talent at outside linebacker could enable him to get snaps on the edge.
  • Linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis‘ new two-year deal with the Jets is worth $5.25MM, reports Rich Cimini of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Pierre-Louis had essentially been a linebacker in name only until 2017, as special teams had been his primary area of focus. But the former fourth-round pick saw a career-high 25% playtime on defense, managing 25 tackles during that time. Pierre-Louis will add depth at inside linebacker behind former first-round pick Darron Lee and free agent acquisition Avery Williamson.
  • In case you missed it, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels recently explained his decision not to become the Colts’ head coach.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/22/17

November 22nd, 2017 at 6:44pm CST by Ben Levine

Here are today’s minor moves:

Detroit Lions

Miami Dolphins

New York Giants

Seattle Seahawks

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