FRISCO, Texas – This is an inspiring story, one championing the human spirit, a never say never tale that has landed in the laps of the Dallas Cowboys post-NFL Draft on Saturday evening.
The Cowboys have agreed to terms and will sign undrafted rookie free agent tight end Tyler Neville of the University of Virginia when he arrived here at The Star on Thursday.
"It's one of the coolest feelings in the world," Neville said on his first day as a pro. "I didn't know what to expect coming in here. But I've been overwhelmed. It's been awesome."
The Cowboys signed nearly 10 these guys who went undrafted over the past week, just as they have done with dozen of players over the years, with guys such as Drew Pearson, Cliff Harris, Everson Walls, Bill Bates, Mark Tuinei and Tony Romo, just to name a few from the past, along with current guys like Terrance Steele, Markquese Bell and Hunter Luepke over the past couple of years.
The odds usually are stacked against these undrafted free agents, though their stories and journeys into the NFL can be rather remarkable fueled by a can-do spirit defying these nearly fictional Paper Lion type beginnings.
The journey – heck, the life – of Tyler Neville, now 24 years old, 6-4, 248 pounds, is one that will illicit either tears or goose bumps, though his relentless approach will bring smiles to your face.
"Resiliency," says Cowboys tight end coach Lunda Wells. "Unbelievable heart, unbelievable passion to play football, to still be chasing his dreams to play in the NFL after going through all he went through and still on the horse trying to ride into the NFL."
And this all started from birth, March 1, 2001, in Williamsburg, Va., when he was born deaf, needing surgery by 2-years old to implant ear tubes to enable him to hear, just the first of nearly 20 surgeries he would endure by the time he was 18.
At age 14, in middle school, he suddenly was having trouble breathing during basketball practice. Turns out he was suffering from pectus excavatum, a condition where the breastbone and rib cage begin growing inward, creating a depression on the chest and putting undo pressure on the lungs and heart.
Neville had to undergo surgery to implant a metal bar across his chest to counter the deformity, along with having also to undergo several more ear tube surgeries. The insertion of the metal bar forced him to pause playing basketball and football.
Then in 2015, at the tender of 15, a few months before his freshman year in high school, Neville was diagnosed with Stage II Hodgins Lymphoma, asking his parents at the time when told his of biopsy results if he still could go to basketball practice that night. And because of the metal bar inserted into his chest, the teenager could not undergo radiation treatment.
That meant six months of chemo treatments, though through it all, Neville had begun and continued to resume basketball practice. On his Tyler Neville "Angels Among Us" Foundation website, his daily chemo routine is described this way:
First to arrive at the clinic doors each morning for chemotherapy, Tyler was home by mid-afternoon to work with tutors. By 7 p.m., Tyler was at basketball practice--fighting through nausea, fatigue, mouth sores, difficulty breathing, a weakened immune system and neuropathy. The neuropathy was evident when warming up before a game, Tyler sprained his ankle after taking a shot. The injury sidelined him for a couple weeks, but it felt like months as the excitement and camaraderie he enjoyed as a player was the highlight and focus of his day.
A year later, he was declared cancer free. In 2018 the chest bar was removed, and resumed playing football and at a high level, earning Virginia All-State honors. That led him to Harvard, where his freshman year of 2020, of course, was interrupted by COVID-19, though he continued to practice even though the Ivy League had suspended play.
During the 2021 season he played in 10 football games. In 2022, Neville tied for the team lead with four touchdown receptions. By 2023 he earned second team FCS All-America honors and became a two-time All-Ivy League player. Over his three-year playing career Nevill played in 30 career games, with 30 career starts, 62 receptions, 698 yards and 8 touchdowns for the Harvard Crimson.
Set to graduate from Harvard in the spring of 2024, Neville had numerous offers to continue his football career at the FBS level, and committed to Virginia for his final year of eligibility while working toward a master's degree. He would finish the season as a noted blocker, and with 37 catches, 394 yards and two touchdowns.
Not exactly draftable numbers, but enough for the Cowboys to notice his budding talent, his dedication to the game and his unrelenting spirit, signing him to one of those standard undrafted free agent contracts, that includes a $10,000 signing bonus and the $100,000 guarantee basically ensuring he'll spend his rookie season at least on the practice squad.
Of course, the Cowboys have a crowded tight end room, with 2023 Pro Bowler Jake Ferguson returning for his fourth season, Luke Schoonmaker for his third, Brevyn Spann-Ford for his second, Princeton Fant for his second and John Stephens, after suffering consecutive ACL injuries, appearing ready to try again this summer. In fact, Ferguson, with the same agent as Neville, worked with the young tight end at George Kittle's Tight End University camp in Nashville, Tenn.
"But found out about his story after watching tape," Wells said, pointing out Cowboys head athletic trainer Jim Maurer told Neville's story in a draft meeting, "the unbelievable story, and I'm happy to be a part of it going forward to help maximize his opportunity."
And of course, Neville immediately began trying to get a head start before his Thursday arrival at The Star.
"He already text me," Wells said earlier this week, "saying, 'Man is there any playbook stuff you can send me?' This was Saturday night, told him take a pause to enjoy this moment, we got plenty of time to get to that."
And as Wells points out, this is no charity type move. Says the guy has talent. Catches the ball well. Run after catch is really good. "And he has the smarts," Wells says, and of course he has. He's got a degree from Harvard, and in the Cowboys draft history only once have they selected a player from Harvard, that being Carter Lord, a 13th-round pick, 347 overall, in 1968, uh, a tight end by the way who didn't make the team nor ever play in the NFL
"What he's done on the field by far is what has motivated us to bring him in," Wells says. "I was impressed with him before I ever knew history."
And now that we know his inspiring story, there will be plenty of people pulling for Tyler Neville, especially the younger kids who share some of the same challenges he's faced throughout his life.
"I think it's not just a testament what I've gone through… but it's a testament to people who have gone through what I've gone through," Neville said of his journey. "When I was sick and in the hospitals, there were a lot of younger kids in every hospital that looked up to me. I think this provides them some a light at the end of the tunnel and some confidence to keep going.
"I don't care how many surgeries I've gone through, I'm the luckiest guys on the planet. I'm blessed."
