Tennessee Titans
The Titans were the surprise team last year after inserting Ryan Tannehill at QB to replace Marcus Mariota. Tannehill had a stabilizing effect and the team relied heavily on RB Derrick Henry and that combination really made a difference. The offense returns most of its offensive line, one of the better ones in the league. They need veteran Dennis Kelly to hold down the RT spot until rookie Isaiah Wilson is ready to take over. Henry is a work horse and the team tried to get him some help with rookie Darryton Evans, we will see how that works out. Corey Davis hasn’t been the superstar WR the team hoped, but he’s holding his own. AJ Brown had an excellent rookie year and he looks like a player. Adam Humphries is supposed to be the third WR and play in the slot but he wasn’t great last year. They need him to step up because they don’t have much depth. Jonnu Smith took over the TE job after Delanie Walker got hurt and the job is his now with Walker gone. This team isn’t the high-flying attack of the Chiefs or the Saints but they know what they do well and they stick to it.
The Titans had a good defense last season and they are looking to build on that success. The team traded away Jurrell Casey partly because they have Jeffrey Simmons ready to take over at DE. Simmons only played in nine games last year because he was recovering from an ACL tear but he made the most of those games and proved to be quite good. Originally the team signed Vic Beasley to be the new OLB opposite Harold Landry but Beasley hasn’t participated in camp and the team ended up signing Jadeveon Clowney. Clowney is a far better addition and he might make Beasley moot. Clowney and Landry could be a solid duo rushing the passer but this is my opportunity to remind you that Jadeveon Clowney is the single most overrated player in the league. The team is very strong up the middle with ILBs Rashaan Evans and Jayon Brown and safeties Kenny Vaccaro and Kevin Byard. That’s always a solid place to build a defense, right up the middle. Malcolm Butler and Adoree’ Jackson are the top two CBs but rookie Kristian Fulton is going to play plenty for this team.
I like the Titans because they know they are a run first offense and a strong defense first and foremost and they don’t try to be anything different. Mike Vrabel proved quite adept as a new head coach last season and this team should be better with Tannehill at the controls all year.
Indianapolis Colts
The Colts offense is under new management as Phillip Rivers has come in to take the controls. Rivers is still a capable QB and this year he gets to play behind one of the best offensive lines in all of football, that will be a nice change of pace from his years behind the Chargers line. He will have a deadly combination at RB with Marlon Mack being joined by rookie Jonathan Taylor. They should make one of the better RB duos in the NFL. TY Hilton is a legitimate #1 WR who now has a legitimate NFL starting QB throwing to him, he’s a proven commodity. Hilton needs some help either from second-year man Parris Campbell or rookie Michael Pittman. Jack Doyle is a decent TE but he’s not scaring anyone. The offensive line is one of the best and it’s not because they have five stars it’s because the whole is better than the sum of its parts. It should be interesting watching Rivers operate with a clean pocket and with a healthy offense around him, I think he’s in for a good year.
The Colts clearly have a good coaching staff because not only was their offensive line greater than the sum of its parts, that’s exactly what their defense was last season. They do have one elite player in LB Darius Leonard but the rest of the defense relies on good players playing great. They tried to upgrade a bit this off season by trading their first-round pick for DT DeForest Buckner from the 49ers and he really upgrades the front line. Somehow the team patched together a pass rush from guys like Justin Houston, Kemoko Turay and others but Turay is out for the year so they need some more magic. Buckner’s presence should help considerably but they need guys like Denico Autry and Ben Banogu to step up. Leonard is an All-Pro caliber LB and he teams with Anthony Walker to make a talented young duo. They are not stacked at LB otherwise. In the secondary they are counting on Xavier Rhodes to rebound after a tough year in Minnesota and for Rock Ya-Sin to have a good second year. Kenny Moore is one of the better nickel corners in the game when he’s on so that helps. Malik Hooker hasn’t been the game changing safety they hoped he’d be but he’s good.
If the defense holds together and keeps teams from running away from them the offense should be much improved over last year’s middling group. Frank Reich and his staff have shown they don’t need overwhelming talent to win but it will be good to see what they can do with the last good years of Phillip Rivers.
Houston Texans
Deshaun Watson is some sort of magician because he won 10 games and this division last year and he had no business pulling that off. The Texans were lucky that the Titans didn’t go to Ryan Tannehill sooner or the Titans would have caught them for the division. Watson is a big play waiting to happen and he never gives up on a play. That’s good and bad because he sometimes takes hits he shouldn’t because he’s trying so hard to make a play. He’s going to have to try harder this year because for some reason Bill O’Brien traded DeAndre Hopkins who was Watson’s best target and the best part of the offense. The team went out and traded for Brandin Cooks to fill in but he’s a lot like Will Fuller and Cooks keeps getting traded away from teams. Cooks has been on four teams in six years, that’s not a good thing. The team has Cooks, Fuller and Kenny Stills so they have the deep speed portion of the offense covered, now they have to hope free agent pick up Randall Cobb can still work the middle of the field. They are also hoping beyond hope that RB David Johnson can recapture his form from what seems like an eternity ago. Johnson was the big return in the Hopkins deal but until he proves otherwise, he’s just an overpaid RB. TE Darren Fells is fine but he’s not a star. The offensive line is better as they get healthy and settle into their spots. The spent a lot of draft capital and money to get and keep LT Laremy Tunsil but he looks worth it. They need the other four spots to stabilize.
The defense is still led by JJ Watt but one of these days he’s going to turn in to a pumpkin. He’s played in single digit games three of the last four years and last year he only had four sacks in eight games. The defense needs a fresh face. Up front they also lost DJ Reader in free agency and that’s going to hurt more than they know. They are still trotting out Whitney Mercilus at OLB and while he gets the job done, he isn’t changing the game. He’s also only a year younger than Watt so the clock is ticking. ILBs Bernardrick McKinney and Zach Cunningham seem to be the better playmakers for this team and the Texans just gave Cunningham an extension so they noticed. Vernon Hargreaves and Bradley Roby are the CBs and they are two former first-round picks who are trying to prove they really belong. Roby had a decent year while Hargreaves saved his career from being completely over. Justin Reid is a solid safety with some potential to be pretty good with some development.
Bill O’Brien is now filling both the coach and GM roles for the Texans and while he might be a decent coach, he’s a terrible GM. Trading DeAndre Hopkins for David Johnson and a draft pick was GM malpractice. Watson might be able to bail out the offense but I’m not sure anything can save this defense. If this team wins 10 games again Watson should be the MVP and they should build a statue for him.
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars are basically a tire fire inside of a dumpster fire sitting on a sinking ship. Seriously, if this team isn’t trying to Tank for Trevor (Lawrence) I don’t know what they are doing. Minshew mania was fun for a few weeks last season but even he got benched for Nick Foles who then proceeded to suck so much they benched him and traded him away. To top that their starting RB as of right now is James Robinson, an undrafted free agent out of Illinois St. This is a team that drafted 12 players in April and Robinson wasn’t one of them. It’s probable that Minshew will put up some big stats mostly because the Jaguars will be behind quite often and he does have some talent to work with at WR. DJ Chark was very good last year, Chris Conley and Dede Westbrook are solid veterans, and rookie Laviska Shenault should be a good one. They signed Tyler Eifert at TE and he should be fine for the 4-6 games he’s healthy this year. The line isn’t bad, LG Andrew Norwell, C Brandon Linder, RG AJ Cann and RT Jawaan Taylor are pretty good actually. LT Cam Robinson needs to be better for the whole thing to come together.
A solid o-line, Gardner Minshew’s passing ability and a good group of WRs means the offense could score some points, the question is, can the defense stop anyone? The answer is no. And it got a lot harder when they traded away Yannick Ngakoue when he wouldn’t sign his franchise tender. That leaves Josh Allen as the best (and possibly only) pass rusher worth a damn up front. Allen is undersized and he needs rookie K’Lavon Chaisson to really come on to take some pressure off of him. Chaisson has a history of injury and he’s not ready for prime time just yet. The rest of the d-line is pretty non-descript; it would help if Taven Bryant would emerge at DT after being a non-factor most of his career so far. Myles Jack is the best overall defender and they did him a solid signing MLB Joe Schobert so that Jack could move to the weakside. Schobert was underappreciated in Cleveland but he got overpaid by Jacksonville to make up for it. The secondary needs rookie CB CJ Henderson to play like he’s Deion Sanders and even if he does that isn’t going to make the other three spots any better. This defense is going to struggle, but that was the goal, I think.
I’m slightly perplexed that the Jaguars had 12 draft picks last year and yet only one (Henderson) is scheduled to start. This roster is not that good which makes me think they didn’t have a great draft. There’s actually an undrafted rookie (Robinson) starting and it’s hard to believe out of 12 picks they didn’t pick a RB who could start. This is the most dysfunctional team in the league when it comes to football decisions (Washington is leading the way with off the field stuff). Good luck Trevor.
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