2015 Dolphins grades: Neville Hewitt

The Miami Dolphins signed Neville Hewitt to an un-drafted free agent contract after last April’s Draft. It was expected that Hewitt would not make an impact on the 2015 season. Injuries gave him an opportunity.

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Neville Hewitt – linebacker

2016 salary – $525,000

In 2015, Hewitt was active for all 16 games mostly as a special teams player. In the final two weeks of the season Hewitt started for the injured Jelani Jenkins. In his two starts, Hewitt was impressive, mostly in pass coverage where during week 17 he covered Patriot tight-end Rob Gronkowski one on one and held him in check most of the game.

Hewitt finished his rookie season with 39 total tackles, 27 of them solo, three passes defended and one interception. He showed why the Dolphins thought enough of him to give him a 53 man roster spot. Hewitt will slide back into the back-up role in 2016 but the little we saw of him in 2015 has been enough to believe that he has the talent to grow into a productive NFL linebacker. The Dolphins may consider trying him on the opposite side as a possible future replacement for Koa Misi if he remains on the team.

PFF ranked Hewitt 43rd among linebackers with a 64.8 overall score. He was not very good at run defense grading out at 34.0 but in coverage he jumped to 80.1 which was the best coverage grade of any Dolphins linebacker.

2015 Grade – A

Why an A?

Hewitt is graded more on his last two games than the season as a whole considering he didn’t see the field all that much defensively. He played very well and deserves a much longer look next season.

The rest of the linebackers:

Spencer Paysinger

Impending free agent

Grade – D

Paysinger couldn’t get on the field and when he could, the defense suffered. He was often out of position and overcommitment to the run didn’t help.  His pass coverage wasn’t all that great despite PFF giving him a positive grade. Paysinger simply wasn’t impactful and didn’t give the Dolphins a reliable back-up.

Mike Hull & Zach Vigil

Hull played a total of 21 snaps and therefore does not receive a grade. Vigil played in 145 snaps and was inconsistent which is understandable for an undrafted rookie. He will not receive a grade due to the sporatic playing time he received. No other linebacker warrants mention.