NFL COVID-19 List Updates: 12/29/21
Several key players returned to practice Wednesday. Here are the latest COVID-19 updates from around the league:
Arizona Cardinals
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: P Andy Lee
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: OLB Devon Kennard
Atlanta Falcons
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DL Jonathan Bullard, S Jaylinn Hawkins, TE Hayden Hurst
- Placed on practice squad/COVID-19 list: OL Willie Beavers
Baltimore Ravens
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Chris Board, LB Tyus Bowser, LB Justin Houston, S Geno Stone, LB Kristian Welch
- Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: OT David Sharpe, QB Christ Streveler
Buffalo Bills
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Cole Beasley, WR Gabriel Davis, DE A.J. Epenesa, OL Jon Feliciano
Carolina Panthers
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: OL Dennis Daley, G Pat Elflein
- Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: DE Austin Larkin
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Haason Reddick, QB P.J. Walker
Cincinnati Bengals
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Mike Thomas
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Germaine Pratt
Cleveland Browns
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: QB Nick Mullens
Dallas Cowboys
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: DT Trysten Hill, S Malik Hooker
- Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: RB JaQuan Hardy, WR Brandon Smith
Denver Broncos
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: C Lloyd Cushenberry
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: T Calvin Anderson, WR Tim Patrick, S Caden Sterns
- Placed on practice squad/COVID-19 list: WR Tyrie Cleveland
Detroit Lions
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Trinity Benson, T Matt Nelson, WR Quintez Cephus
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DL Michael Brockers, G Halapoulivaati Vaitai
- Placed on practice squad/COVID-19 list: WR Geronimo Allison
Green Bay Packers
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling
- Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: OT Cole Van Lanen
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DB Henry Black, TE Tyler Davis, DL Kingsley Keke, P Cody Bojorquez
- Placed on practice squad/COVID-19 list: CB Jayson Stanley
Houston Texans
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: DL Maliek Collins, WR Brandin Cooks, K Ka’imi Fairbairn, LB Jonathan Greenard, LB Kamu Grugier-Hill, LB Neville Hewitt, LB Jordan Jenkins, DL Jaleel Johnson, DL Roy Lopez, DB A.J. Moore, S Eric Murray, LB Derek Rivers, LB Eric Wilson, C Justin Britt, G Lane Taylor
- Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: CB Cre’Von LeBlanc
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DL Ron’Dell Carter, WR Chris Moore
- Placed on practice squad/COVID-19 list: K Dominik Eberle
Indianapolis Colts
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: G Mark Glowinski, G Quenton Nelson, DE Kemoko Turay, DB Rock Ya-Sin, TE Farrod Green
- Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: QB James Morgan, TE Eli Wolf
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Jaydon Mickens, LB Dylan Moses, LT Cam Robinson, S Johnathan Ford
- Placed on practice squad/COVID-19 list: WR Josh Hammond
Kansas City Chiefs
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: TE Travis Kelce, K Harrison Butker, CB Rashad Fenton, P Tommy Townsend, S Armani Watts
- Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: LB Darius Harris
Las Vegas Raiders
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: G Jermaine Eluemunor, CB Brandon Facyson, S Roderic Teamer
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DT Kendal Vickers, TE Darren Waller (story)
- Placed on practice squad/COVID-19 list: G Lester Cotton, G Jeremiah Poutasi
Los Angeles Chargers
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: OLB Joey Bosa, WR Jalen Guyton, CB Kemon Hall, C Corey Linsley, DB Trey Marshall, LB Cole Christiansen
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Kenneth Murray, T Storm Norton
Los Angeles Rams
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: RB Raymond Calais
Miami Dolphins
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: TE Cethan Carter, CB Justin Coleman, G Robert Jones, OL Greg Mancz, LB Duke Riley, WR Lynn Bowden
- Placed on practice squad/COVID-19 list: C Spencer Pulley
Minnesota Vikings
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: RB Dalvin Cook
- Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: CB Tye Smith
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DE Patrick Jones II
New England Patriots
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: RB Rhamondre Stevenson, OLB Harvey Langi
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Ja’Whaun Bentley, LB Matt Judon
New Orleans Saints
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: LB Demario Davis, QB Taysom Hill, QB Trevor Siemian, LB Kwon Alexander, LB Kaden Elliss, S J.T. Gray, OT Jordan Mills, OG James Carpenter, DT Christian Ringo, TE Adam Trautman, S Jeff Heath
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: S Marcus Williams
New York Giants
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: DB Keion Crossen, DB Adoree’ Jackson, WR John Ross
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DL Dexter Lawrence
New York Jets
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: CB Michael Carter II, DT Folorunso Fatukasi, QB Joe Flacco, DL Jonathan Marshall, LB Hamsah Nasirildeen, TE Kenny Yeboah
- Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: LB Noah Dawkins, CB Lamar Jackson, DL Tanzel Smart
- Placed on practice squad/COVID-19 list: CB Ken Webster
Philadelphia Eagles
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: T Le’Raven Clark, T Andre Dillard, DE Tarron Jackson, DE Ryan Kerrigan
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: WR Rico Bussey
Seattle Seahawks
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: DT Bryan Mone, CB D.J. Reed
- Activated from practice squad/COVID-19 list: CB Michael Jackson
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: CB Jamel Dean, WR Mike Evans, CB Sean Murphy-Bunting, WR Breshad Perriman
Tennessee Titans
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: T Taylor Lewan, DB Elijah Molden, G Rodger Saffold
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: ILB Jayon Brown, OLB Bud Dupree, WR Julio Jones, DB Buster Skrine, WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
- Placed on practice squad/COVID-19 list: CB Briean Boddy-Calhoun
Washington Football Team
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DB Darryl Roberts
- Placed on practice squad/COVID-19 list: OL Beau Benzschawel, T David Steinmetz
Texans, LB Neville Hewitt Agree To Deal
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
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
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
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
Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: K Cole Murphy
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: LB Adarius Taylor (two-year deal)
Los Angeles Chargers
- Re-signed: DT Brandon Mebane (two-year deal)
New York Jets
- Re-signed: LB Neville Hewitt
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Re-signed: P Jordan Berry (two-year deal)
Jets Sign LB Neville Hewitt
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
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
Here are today’s minor moves:
Detroit Lions
- Waived: WR Jace Billingsley
- Promoted to active roster: DT Christian Ringo
Miami Dolphins
- Promoted to active roster: LB Neville Hewitt
New York Giants
- Waived from injured reserve: WR Kevin Norwood
Seattle Seahawks
- Promoted to active roster: WR David Moore
Dolphins Reach 53-Man Max
The Dolphins reached the 53-man roster maximum. Here’s how:
Waived:
- LS Winston Chapman
- P Matt Darr
- QB Brandon Doughty
- TE Thomas Duarte
- G Isame Faciane
- QB David Fales
- WR Trey Griffey
- S A.J. Hendy
- T Sean Hickey
- CB Larry Hope
- RB Storm Johnson
- LB Deon Lacey
- WR Rashad Lawrence
- WR Malcolm Lewis
- CB Jordan Lucas
- DE Cameron Malveaux
- DE Praise Martin-Oguike
- WR Mitch Mathews
- WR Drew Morgan
- DT Lawrence Okoye
- TE Chris Pantale
- CB Lafayette Pitts
- DE Joby Saint Fleur
- RB De’Veon Smith
- WR Damore’ea Stringfellow
- LB Junior Sylvestre
- DE Julius Warmsley
- T Avery Young
Waived/injured:
- LB Neville Hewitt
- LB Brandon Watts
Released:
- DE Nick Williams
- T Sam Young
Placed on IR:
- CB Tony Lippett
- LB Raekwon McMillan
PUP List:
Williams played in ten games between the Chiefs and Dolphins last season, finishing with eight tackles. He restructured his deal in March, but it wasn’t enough to keep his spot in Miami.
Young was slated to make $1.2MM in 2017 per the terms of the extension he signed in the winter.
