Joel Heath (born June 18, 1993) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

. He was a three-year starter at

Mount Healthy High School Mt. Healthy Jr/Sr High School is a public middle and high school in Mount Healthy, Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of n ...

Mount Healthy, Ohio Mount Healthy is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky metropolitan area. The population was 6,098 at the 2010 census. History Mount Healthy was founded in 1817 as the village of Mount Pleasant. In ...

and earned First-team All-State honors twice. He was also named the

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All-Ohio Division II Co-Defensive Player of the Year his senior season in 2010. Heath played college football at

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

, where he was a three-year letterman. He was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten Conference his senior year in 2015. He played in 39 games during his college career, recording 60

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

, 4.5 sacks, two pass breakups, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Heath played for the Houston Texans from 2016 to 2019, and was a member of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

in 2020 and the Detroit Lions in 2021.

Early years

Heath was a three-year starter at

in Mount Healthy (in the Cincinnati, OH metro area, to the north), where he played

and

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

. He recorded 41

and 6.5 sacks during his junior year in 2009. He committed to

on July 1, 2010. He totaled five sacks throughout his senior season in 2010 and helped Mount Healthy win its first playoff game in school history. He earned

(AP) First-team All-Ohio (Division II) honors twice and First-team AP Southwest All-District accolades twice. He was named the AP All-Ohio Division II Co-Defensive Player of the Year, AP Southwest All-District Defensive Player of the Year and

Fort Ancient Valley Conference This is a list of former high school athletic conferences in the Southwest Region of Ohio, as designated by the OHSAA. If a conference had members that span multiple regions, the conference is placed in the article of the region most of its former m ...

Co-Athlete of the Year for his senior season in 2010. He also earned First-team All-Conference honors twice. He was named to the ''

Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, alt ...

''’s All-Area (Division II-VI) Team for his junior season. He was part of the Ohio All-Stars team that took part in the June 2011 Big 33 Classic in

Hershey, Pennsylvania Hershey is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is home to The Hershey Company, which was founded by candy magnate Milton S. Hershey. The community is lo ...

. He was rated the country's 26th best defensive end in the class of 2011 by

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and Ohio's 49th best senior in the class of 2011 by

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. He was also named to the All-Midwest Team of both ''

SuperPrep ''Super Prep'' is a sports magazine based in Laguna Beach, California, published in since 1985. It was founded and is published by Allen Wallace, a lawyer. Its main focus is to provide recruiting information on high school football players. In 19 ...

'' and ''

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''.

College career

Heath played for the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

of Michigan State University from 2012 to 2015 and was a three-year letterman from 2013 to 2015. He was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 2011. He began his Michigan State career as a defensive end, playing in five games in 2012 and a further nine in 2013, recording three quarterback hurries and a pass breakup the latter year. He converted to defensive tackle during bowl practices in 2013. He played in 13 games, of which he started all but one, as a defensive tackle in 2014, accumulating 29 tackles and 2.5 sacks while also leading the team's defensive tackles with five

tackles for loss Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling are to dispossess an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend. The word ...

. He recorded three tackles, half a sack and a half a tackle for loss in his team's defeat in the January 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic. He started 12 games at defensive tackle in 2015, totaling two sacks and 31 tackles, including 5.5 for tackles for loss. He missed one game due to an undisclosed injury and another game due to an ankle injury. He had three tackles in the December 2015 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Cotton Bowl. He was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten Conference by the media in 2015. Heath played in 39 games, and started 24 of them, during his college career. He recorded career totals of 4.5 sacks, two pass breakups, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and 60 tackles, including 10.5 tackles for loss. He graduated from Michigan State in December 2015 with a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies in social science.

Professional career

Pre-draft

Heath was rated the 30th best defensive tackle in the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015 NFL Draft, 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park (Chicago), ...

by NFLDraftScout.com.

Lance Zierlein Lance Zierlein is a sports analyst and commentator. He has hosted sports talk shows on KILT 610, KBME 790, KGOW 1560 AM, and KFNC 97.5 FM in Houston, Texas Career Zierlein graduated from Lamar Consolidated High School in 1988. Following high ...

of NFL.com said that "Heath has intriguing size that could appeal to defenses running multiple fronts" while also stating that "Heath's lack of pass rush or dominant run stopping tape could hurt his cause on draft weekend."

Houston Texans

Heath signed with the Houston Texans in May 2016 after going undrafted in the 2016 NFL Draft. He chose the Texans over four other teams that he had received contract offers from. He made his NFL debut on September 22 against the New England Patriots, recording one tackle assist. He played in twelve games, of which he started in half of them, and recorded five solo tackles, three tackle assists and 2.0 sacks. Both of his sacks came in the Week 17 game against the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

, making him the sixth rookie in Texans history and the first since

Whitney Mercilus Whitney Mercilus (born July 21, 1990) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons, primarily with the Houston Texans. He played college football at Illinois, where he received unanimous ...

in 2012 to record two sacks in a game. He also played in both of the team's playoff games, recording two solo tackles in the first game. He suffered a knee injury during the team's second playoff game. In May 2017, Heath stated his knee was 100 percent healthy. He suffered a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

injury later during the offseason. On July 25, he was placed on the active/

non-football injury Non-football injury and non-football illness (NFI) are roster designations used in the National Football League (NFL) for players who are unable to practice as a result of conditions unrelated to football, or injuries that did not occur during NFL g ...

list. On August 23, he was activated from the active/non-football injury list. He began the 2017 season as the team's starter at right defensive end and has started the team's first four games of the season. The Texans waived him on August 31, 2019, during final roster cuts. He was re-signed on November 11, 2019. He was released on November 21, but re-signed two days later. He was released on December 28.

Denver Broncos

On December 31, 2019, Heath was claimed off waivers by the

. He was re-signed on March 27, 2020. He was released on July 27, 2020. He chose to opt-out of the 2020 NFL season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

and was reinstated to the Broncos' roster on their opt-out reserve list on August 25, 2020. He was waived after the season on February 2, 2021.

Detroit Lions

On February 18, 2021, Heath signed with the Detroit Lions. He was placed on injured reserve on May 28, 2021, due to a

torn ACL An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

References

External links

College stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Joel Living people 1993 births People from Mount Healthy, Ohio Sportspeople from Hamilton County, Ohio Players of American football from Cincinnati American football defensive tackles American football defensive ends Michigan State Spartans football players Houston Texans players Denver Broncos players Detroit Lions players 21st-century African-American sportspeople