Report: Eagles among teams interested in Neville Hewitt

The Philadelphia Eagles-New York Jets pipeline has been active in recent days. The Eagles signed former Jets quarterback Joe Flacco on Tuesday evening. The Jets signed former Eagles defensive end Vinny Curry on Wednesday afternoon. And now the Birds might be adding another former Jets player to their roster.

The Eagles are reportedly among teams interested in free agent linebacker Neville Hewitt, according to Manish Mehta. He notes the Cincinnati Bengals, Green Bay Packers, and San Francisco 49ers are also in the mix.

Hewitt, who turns 28 in April, has logged 39 starts in 82 career games played since entering the league as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Marshall in 2015. Last year marked the first time he started all 16 games and he led the Jets in total tackles with 134. Hewitt took on a larger role than originally expected with C.J. Mosley opting out of the 2020 season and Avery Williamson getting traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in early November.

Hewitt has a reputation for being a solid run defender but he’s never graded out well in coverage. The 6-2, 220-pound backer has a 106.0 passer rating allowed when targeted over the last five seasons, according to Pro Football Focus.

The Eagles have some familiarity with Hewitt. Former Jets assistant and current Eagles defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson overlapped with him in North Jersey over the past three seasons.

Signing Hewitt would hardly qualify as a thrilling addition but the Eagles have an obvious hole at linebacker. They currently only have Alex Singleton, T.J. Edwards, Shaun Bradley, Davion Taylor, Rashad Smith, and Joe Bachie under contract at that position.