HEADLINES

Damien Lewis

NFC Injury Updates: Eagles, Davis, Lewis, Carlson

September 27th, 2024 at 9:52pm CST by Ely Allen

The Eagles are going to be forced to make a long-term switch on special teams after punt returner Britain Covey told reporters yesterday that he suffered a broken scapula. According to Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team, Covey is likely to miss around six weeks recovering from the injury.

Covey hasn’t had too many return opportunities this season. The team as a whole has only returned two punts this season, with Covey logging only one of those for nine yards. The only other return came from second-round rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean, who gained six yards on a return last week in New Orleans as he stepped in after Covey’s injury. DeJean has played sparsely on defense so far this year, but it looks like his impact on special teams will be taken to the next level over the next several weeks.

Covey’s presence will also be missed on offense, where he’s third in the receivers room in receptions and yards this year. With Covey joining Ainias Smith and Jacob Harris on injured reserve, that leaves four receivers on the active roster. DeVonta Smith is set miss the team’s next contest with a concussion, so Jahan Dotson, Parris Campbell, and rookie Johnny Wilson will be asked to step up alongside A.J. Brown.

Here are a few other injury updates from around the NFC:

  • Saints linebacker Demario Davis is playing in his 13th NFL season. This weekend, the veteran defender will miss the first game of his career due to injury. Davis had one absence back in 2021 due to COVID-19, but Mike Triplett of NewOrleans.Football reports that a hamstring injury will keep Davis from playing for the first time in his long career.
  • On Wednesday, we reported an elbow injury for Panthers starting left guard Damien Lewis. Initial reports predicted at least a one-game absence, but the veteran guard will endeavor to not miss any time. Per Joe Person of The Athletic, Lewis suffered a UCL tear in his left elbow. If he were a left-handed quarterback, Lewis would require surgery, but there’s a chance Carolina doesn’t see any missed time from their lineman, who will try to play through the injury.
  • Tight end Stephen Carlson‘s stint on the Bears‘ active roster was a short one. After being promoted from the practice squad three days ago, Carlson suffered a significant collarbone injury on the last play of practice yesterday, according to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. Cronin predicts that an IR-stint is in Carlson’s future.

NFC Injury Updates: Lewis, Murphy, Darnold

September 25th, 2024 at 9:59pm CST by Ely Allen

After the high of getting their first win this past weekend, it’s a tough swing back down as the Panthers will see starting left guard Damien Lewis miss at least one game with an elbow injury, per Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report. Schultz tells us that, while Lewis will likely avoid a stint on injured reserve, he will have to miss some time.

While the quarterback play has suffered up until this past week, Carolina has seen some pretty solid offensive line play so far this season. In fact, Lewis, who grades out as the 25th-best guard in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), has, so far, graded out as the team’s fifth-best player on offense. Lewis is the only one who’s missed time on an otherwise stalwart line, with Chandler Zavala filling in during Lewis’s short absence.

A tear in Lewis’s elbow will likely require Zavala’s presence once again. While he will definitely miss one game, Lewis plans to eventually play through the injury. The team will miss his play, but the hope is that he won’t be gone for long.

Here are a couple other injury updates from around the NFL:

  • The Seahawks have enjoyed the benefits of a talented defensive line this season, one that has been boosted by the contributions of rookie first-round defensive tackle Byron Murphy. The second defensive player taken off the board last April, Murphy is expected to miss some time with a hamstring injury, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. Seattle doesn’t intend to put him on IR for now, but they’ll be decidedly careful not to rush the rookie back.
  • Late in the team’s win over the Texans this past weekend, the Vikings experienced a scare when starting quarterback Sam Darnold took a low hit from former Minnesota-favorite Danielle Hunter. Darnold limped to the sideline, where he sat out one play before running back onto the field. Tests on Monday revealed a bruise but no structural damage to Darnold’s left knee, according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. The team will experience a collective sigh of relief to realize that their quarterback avoided serious injury just weeks after that of rookie first-round quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

Panthers, G Damien Lewis Agree To Terms

March 11th, 2024 at 9:47pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Panthers and Rams are in a guard battle, with the bulk of the high-end payments at this position going to Carolina or Los Angeles this week. The NFC South club struck again Monday night.

Four-year Seahawks starter Damien Lewis is heading to Charlotte, Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz reports. The former third-round pick has a four-year, $53MM deal in place with Carolina. After adding Robert Hunt on a monster accord, the Panthers are not stopping there. The team will give the ex-Seattle regular $26.2MM fully guaranteed, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets.

Rostering the NFL’s shortest starting quarterback in Bryce Young, the Panthers’ new coaching staff will equip the team’s 2023 top pick with two proven starters. Lewis’ guard starter tenure ran longer than Hunt’s, with the Seahawks putting the former to work from the jump in 2020.

The bevy of guards on PFR’s top 50 free agents list are snapped up. This includes Michael Onwenu, the guard/tackle whom the Patriots re-signed this evening. The Panthers will come away with two of them. Hunt scored the fourth-highest AAV in guard history ($20MM), while Lewis will settle in just north of $13MM. Rumored to be pursuing guards in free agency, Carolina was quite serious about upgrading to better protect its 5-foot-10 quarterback.

Lewis has a history with Dave Canales, to a degree. The new Panthers HC was on the Seahawks’ staff from 2010-21, overlapping as an offensive assistant in Lewis’ first two Seattle seasons. Carolina’s new staff will ask the 26-year-old blocker to keep up his pace and help Young improve in 2024. The Panthers already have an upper-crust tackle payment (for Taylor Moton) on their books, but they cut center Bradley Bozeman and have LT Ikem Ekwonu on a rookie deal.

As the Seahawks became the third team since the 1970 merger to start two rookie tackles (in 2022), Lewis stood as a dependable guard option. While not garnering the attention Hunt, Onwenu and Jonah Jackson did entering free agency, the LSU alum comes away with a nice payday as many teams searched for upgrades here. Lewis started all 61 games he played as a Seahawk, ranking fourth in ESPN’s run block win rate metric in 2022. While his Pro Football Focus ratings yo-yoed, Lewis certainly played a role in Geno Smith‘s surprising re-emergence over the past two seasons. The Panthers will hope he can boost Young soon.

Damien Lewis Avoids Serious Injury

August 19th, 2022 at 8:22am CST by Ben Levine

AUG 19: The Seahawks look to have dodged a bullet here. Pete Carroll said Lewis X-rays revealed only a lateral ankle sprain, according to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. While Lewis could miss some time, he will have a chance to play this season. Haynes would start in Lewis’ absence, Carroll added.

AUG 18: Damien Lewis appeared to have suffered a serious injury on Thursday night. The Seahawks offensive guard was carted off the field during Seattle’s preseason contest against the Bears.

Lewis suffered a leg injury during a run play in the second quarter. Lewis was down on the ground for a bit while the trainers placed an air cast on his leg. The team, including head coach Pete Carroll, huddled around the offensive lineman before he was carted off the field. Predictably, Lewis was later ruled out for the game with an ankle injury.

Lewis has been a dependable member of Seattle’s offensive line since he joined the organization as a third-round pick in 2020. He’s started each of his 29 games since entering the league, and while he was graded 57th among 82 qualifying guards in 2021 (per PFF), he ranked 13th at the position as a rookie. Thanks to that performance in 2020, he earned PFWA All-Rookie Team honors.

Phil Haynes ended up replacing Lewis in the lineup, and there’s a chance the former fourth-round pick could end up securing the starting gig if Lewis is out. The team could also turn to backups like Greg Eiland and rookie Shamarious Gilmore.

Lewis wasn’t the only player hurt on the play. Bears linebacker Caleb Johnson was also down for a moment, but he was eventually able to walk off the field.

NFC West Rumors: Seahawks OL, Jackson, Greenlaw, Humphries

August 13th, 2022 at 5:42pm CST by Ely Allen

With Brandon Shell departing in free agency and Duane Brown and Ethan Pocic now rostered with the Jets and Browns, respectively, the Seahawks have had a bit of work this offseason piecing their offensive line back together. Seattle may even be in the extremely rare position of bookending their offensive line with two rookie tackles, according to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times.

While Charles Cross has long been expected to start for the Seahawks on the blindside as the No. 9 overall pick in the draft, it appears that third-round pick Abraham Lucas is currently favored to man the tackle spot opposite Cross. The most recent instance of this in the NFL that I could find is back in 2012 when the Cardinals were forced to start seventh-round pick Nate Potter across from fourth-round pick Bobby Massie late in the season. That was a result of some injuries, though. The last time a team started the season with two rookie offensive tackles, I believe, was in 2009 when Jacksonville trotted out in Week 1 with first-round pick Eugene Monroe at left tackle and second-round pick Eben Britton at right tackle.

Additionally, while the Seahawks return Gabe Jackson and Damien Lewis as the starting guards from last year, backup guard Phil Haynes has reportedly been pushing both for playing time this offseason. According to a tweet from ESPN’s Brady Henderson, head coach Pete Carroll had plenty of good things to say about Haynes.

“Phil could start. He plays like a starter,” Carroll extolled. He looks like a starter out there and he’s pushing Gabe, he really is. He’s our guy that’s swinging right and left side right now. If he had to start for either guy right now, I would feel absolutely comfortable…I feel like we’ve got three starting guards right now that we could play and be fine with.”

Here are a few other rumors from around the NFC West, starting with a couple rumors from the Bay Area:

  • The 49ers used a second-round pick this year to select Drake Jackson, a big-bodied defensive end out of USC. But they are determined not to limit Jackson to the outside of the line, according to Matt Barrows of The Athletic. San Francisco has been lining Jackson up all over the defensive line this offseason, placing him not only on both ends but at defensive tackle, as well.
  • When the 49ers rush an extra defensive back on the field in passing situations, one of their three starting linebackers is going to have to come off the field. When asked which starting linebacker would stay on the field with Fred Warner in those situations, Barrows posited that it had to be Dre Greenlaw. Barrows went on to say that the only way Azeez Al-Shaair would take hold over the No. 2 linebacker spot in San Francisco is if Greenlaw is injured.
  • Cardinals offensive tackle D.J. Humphries recently signed a three-year, $51.76MM extension. According to Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network, the deal has a guaranteed amount of $32.82MM consisting of a $17MM signing bonus, the 2022 salary of $3.82MM, $4MM of the 2023 salary, and the 2023 roster bonus of $8.24MM. Additionally, the 28-year-old tackle can earn a per game active bonus of $14,117 for a potential season total of $240,000.