Houston Texans
2024 Record: 10-7 (1st in AFC South)
Head Coach: DeMeco Ryans (3rd season)
Notable Additions: T Cam Robinson, S C.J. Gardner-Johnson, WR Christian Kirk
Notable Departures: T Laremy Tunsil, WR Stefon Diggs, G Kenyon Green
Biggest Reason for Excitement: They Still Have the Steadiest Situation in Their Division
Not too long ago, the AFC South was the most closely contested division in the NFL. Hell, it was only 2 years ago when the Texans and Colts squared off for the division title in Week 18. Heading into 2025, that's no longer the case. The Titans are full blown rebuilding, the Jaguars just hired a new coach with the hopes of at least getting back to where they were in 2022, and the Colts are in danger of falling apart at any moment as Shane Steichen is firmly on the hot seat with a QB situation that is among the ugliest in the league. All of this uncertainty and hoping for a brighter future among their peers puts the 2x reigning AFC South champs Texans firmly in the driver's seat to extend their division winning streak to 3. They know who their quarterback is, have a coach that appears set to be around for, a solid group of young talent that they've locked down for the future and most importantly, have won a playoff game in each of the past 2 seasons. They did make a change at offensive coordinator in the offseason, replacing Bobby Slowik-who had a relatively lackluster 2024 campaign-with ex-Patriots/Rams assistant Nick Caley, but that's a minor question mark compared to the ones the other teams in this division are facing at the moment. The strong foundation and competency that they miraculously developed after a home run of a draft and the hiring of DeMeco Ryans in 2023 has made them the envy of the division and provided a blueprint that the other 3 teams will hope to be following ASAP.
Biggest Reason for Concern: Offensive Line
Much has been made of the sophomore slump that C.J. Stroud fell into last season and for good reason, it was the kind of notable decline that nobody expects to see from a young QB who looked like he had the makings of a franchise guy as a rookie. His pick total more than doubled (5 to 12) while his passing YD (4,108 to 3,727) and TD totals dropped (23 to 20) despite playing a full 17-game slate, which is something he failed to do as a rookie after missing 2 games with a concussion. What these stats don't tell you is that the primary cause of these across-the-board regressions in year #2 was the weaker offensive line play Stroud endured. He was sacked a whopping 52 times across those 17 games (up from 38 in 2023) and the increased INT total is absolutely correlated with the weaker pass protection that caused him to force more throws downfield.
What's equally baffling and concerning is how the Texans went about addressing their offensive line problems in this offseason. Shortly before agency started, they sent some shockwaves through the league when they shipped longtime LT Laremy Tunsil to the Commanders. Tunsil was the sole great lineman Stroud had in front of him last season and at age 31, he's still in the middle of his prime. On top of that, Tunsil has 2 years left on a deal that will pay him roughly $20 million per season-which is pretty reasonable for a player of his caliber. Whatever reason the front office provided for dealing him away isn't a good one as cutting ties with a reliable veteran left tackle who just so happens to be one of the best pass protectors in football is inexcusable, especially give the state of their line on the whole.
Moving on to the guys that will be in Houston in 2025, there's not much to be encouraged about. Unsurprisingly, they hit free agency to find Tunsil's replacement and after Ronnie Stanley returned to the Ravens, they were forced to settle for Cam Robinson. What makes this movie particularly amusing is that they know exactly the kind of player Robinson is after facing him in Jacksonville for nearly 8 seasons (the Vikings acquired Robinson and his expiring contract at the trade deadline last season after their franchise left tackle Christian Darrisaw went down for the year with a knee injury). He's about as average-to-below average as they come in terms of long-term starters at the position in the league right now and is prone to getting demolished when he faces particularly aggressive rushes (just look at what the Rams did to him in that Wild Card game in January....). The fact that they only signed Robinson to a 1-year deal doesn't do much to inspire confidence that they view him as anything other than a desperation veteran stopgap option to hold them over until they attempt to land a serious replacement for Tunsil next season.
The other new starter they found in free agency was Laken Tomlinson. The 33-year-old who was selected by the Lions in the 1st round of the 2015 Draft attempted to redeem himself with the Seahawks last season after a disastrous 2-year stint with the Jets didn't go quite as well as he hoped it would as he ended up being only marginally better there than he was during his unproductive time in Easter Rutherford. Expecting him to be anything better than average thi season wouldn't be advisable.
The 3rd and final new starter the Texans have on their offensive line this season is rookie right Aireontae Ersery. Ersery was the 2nd of the pair of 2nd round selections the team made after electing to trade out of the 1st round when the Giants came calling with an offer that handed them a pair of Day 2 picks in exchange for the honor of drafting Jaxson Dart. At an imposing 6'6, 331 lbs, he's set to be one of the biggest offensive linemen in the league right away. Unfortunately, he also happens to belong to the increasingly large genre of young offensive lineman whose skills are exclusively being huge and athletic. Ersery's technique is some of the roughest you'll see from any lineman that makes it to the NFL, and it would be a very pleasant surprise if this developmental prospect was able to put it even somewhat together as a rookie.
Oddly enough, the two returning starters may also end up being the best players they have on the line. Tytus Howard-who is kicking back inside to right guard after handling right tackle duties last season-is coming off a decent year where he showed considerable improvement as a pass protector (4 sacks allowed) and while he was largely average on the whole, Jarrett Patterson showed some promise as a center in his 9 starts a year ago. Even if both of them were able to play at least as well as they did in 2024, it's hard to have much confidence that this group as currently constituted will be any better than the group they had a year ago that contributed to the disruption of Stroud's development.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Finding a Way to Elevate to the True Contending Tier of the AFC
Back-to-back 10-7 seasons have been a nice start to the DeMeco Ryans-era in Houston. Both seasons have had an element of pleasant surprise to them as nobody expected their rebuilding efforts to lead to wins so quickly in 2023 or for them to be able to overcome the challenges they faced in a less rosy 2024 campaign to obliterate a heavily favored Chargers team in the Wild Card Round. As nice of a story as these past 2 seasons have been, this team is now in a position where they have to start aiming higher to continue on their upward climb under Ryans. For this season, that means taking the next step to join the conference's small class of heavy-hitters (Chiefs, Bills, Ravens).
Advancing to this next level will be tough. Having a 3rd year quarterback trying to bounce back from a disappointing season with a new OC and potentially shaky offensive line along with several key veterans battling injuries (Joe Mixon, Folorunso Fatukasi, Denico Autry, Jimmie Ward, newly acquired safety C.J. Gardener-Johnson) that have held them out of camp isn't a great place to start from. However, their defense is sneaky good-especially in their young secondary led by reigning league INT leader Derek Stingley Jr., their pass-catchers (Nico Collins, free agent pickup Christian Kirk, rookie Jayden Higgins, Dalton Schultz) are pretty dynamic playmakers even with the expected season-long absence of Tank Dell as he recovers from the massive knee injury he suffered late last season against the Chiefs and Stroud is absolutely talented enough to not only get back on track, but take a notable leap forward this season. Advancing past the Divisional Round won't be a stretch at all if everything comes together for them.
Bottom Line:
While their ceiling is largely dependent on how their new look offense comes together, their floor feels safe and I fully expect them to win this division for the 3rd straight season.
Indianapolis Colts
2024 Record: 8-9 (2nd in AFC South)
Head Coach: Shane Steichen (3rd season)
Notable Additions: CB Charvarius Ward, S Camryn Bynum, QB Daniel Jones
Notable Departures: G Will Fries, C Ryan Kelly, QB Joe Flacco
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Secondary Additions
Over the last couple of seasons, the list of consistently reliable members of the Colts secondary has been limited to slot corner Kenny Moore. After being stuck in somewhat of a holding pattern during this time, GM Chris Ballard decided to make big investments in the group this season with the hopes of putting a stop to their poor fortunes of late. The pair of big additions they landed were Charvarius Ward and Cam Bynum. Ward is coming off an underwhelming 2024 season that was presumably mostly caused by the grief he was enduring following the death of his infant daughter last October but was a top 10 corner in the league from 2021-23 and has a good chance of returning to his top-tier form in Indy. Bynum is a bit less of a proven commodity as he's only had 1 great season in the pros (2023) and has otherwise been pretty average. That being said, he's steady enough in coverage to at least be a serviceable starter and at 27, still has room to grow as a player.
Considering the strides that Nick Cross and Jaylon Jones made alongside Moore last season, Ward and Bynum could prove to be the missing pieces that elevate this secondary out of the basement (they finished 26th against the pass in 2024) and back to something that resembled that the near top 10 form they were at in 2022. With Shane Steichen's job security in limbo and their offense appearing to be a confounding mystery that nobody is excited about at the moment, the emergence of their secondary would serve as a much-needed boost for an operation that has (rightfully) been very on edge of late.
Biggest Reason for Concern: Quarterback
Year #2 of the Anthony Richardson experiment in Indy didn't do anything to ease the litany of fears that many have had about him since he was drafted 4th overall in 2023. If anything, his 2024 season only cast more doubt on his ability to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. The most impressive lowlights of his dismal 2024 campaign were as follows:
-One of the most stunningly low completion percentages you'll ever see in the NFL (47.7% in 11 starts),
-12 INT's and 3 lost fumbles plus an additional 6 fumbles that didn't result in a giveaway.
-Being benched for Joe Flacco for 2 weeks following an incident where he checked himself out of their Week 8 game against the Texans because "he needed a breather"
- As we've come to expect from a guy who runs with a disregard for his physical wellbeing that would make even Cam Newton wince, he missed 4 games with oblique/back injuries.
2025 has gotten off to a similarly hot start on the injury front at least as Richardson missed mandatory minicamp in June with a shoulder ailment and left last week's preseason opener with a finger injury. While Richardson's youth (he just turned 23 in May) paired with his borderline unprecedented inexperience for an NFL starting quarterback (he's only started 28 games since graduating high school in 2019), high draft status and elite physical tools will continue to earn him opportunities to play in this league for the foreseeable future, it's really hard to envision a scenario where the Colts give him the opportunity to be their starting quarterback beyond this season if he goes out there and struggles/gets dinged up again.
Succeeding Flacco as Richardson's mentor/serious threat to take the starting job away from him is none other than Daniel Jones. Nothing says things are going great at quarterback like electing to bring in the guy who got released by the Giants mid-season less than 12 months ago. Confirmed QB guru Kevin O'Connell electing to take a look at him for a bit last year made sense given what he's done with Josh Dobbs and Sam Darnold since taking over in Minnesota. Having Jones work with Shane Steichen-whose finest accomplishment on the QB development front as a head coach so far is getting enough out of Gardner Minshew in 2023 to earn him another crack at starting elsewhere in 2024 (spoiler alert: it didn't go well!)-does not. There's nothing about Jones' below average game manager with a little bit of rushing ability profile that suggests that there's something great about his game that's yet to be unlocked and the only thing he brings to the table that Richardson doesn't is the ability to complete passes at a higher clip than 47.7%. The increasing likelihood that he will be starting early in the season, possibly even in Week 1, should alarm everybody in this organization and only increases the already pretty high odds that this season will be Steichen's final one with the Colts.
Unless 3rd string rookie Riley Leonard-who wasn't exactly a coveted prospect coming out of Notre Dame-proves to be the answer to this dilemma that nobody expected, quarterback will once again be the albatross that sinks this team. Every single season following Phillip Rivers' passable 1-year run as the starter before his retirement has been nothing but nightmares with different protagonists (aside from the characters that have been mentioned above, nobody should forget the Carson Wentz run in 2021 and the Matt Ryan/Sam Ehlinger/Nick Foles run in 2022 that ultimately cost Frank Reich his job) at this position and there's just no way that everyone that's within the orbit of this organization doesn't regularly stop to mourn about what could've been had Andrew Luck not been forced to retire at age 29.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Notable Improvement on Defense
The firing that Gus Bradley had remarkably avoided following the 2023 season came for him this offseason after posting a 3rd straight bottom 10 finish in scoring defense (at least he avoided a 3rd straight finish at #28 by getting them up to #24 last season!!!). Despite Steichen's very shaky job security heading into 2025, they were able to nab one of the buzzier names on the DC market in Lou Anarumo. While his performance with the Bengals-particularly over the past 2 seasons-left a lot to be a desired, he did have a couple of successful seasons there (2021, 2022) that made enough of an impression on people that he was able to land multiple head coaching interviews.
The hope here is that the Bengals woes over the past 2 seasons that got Anarumo axed were due to lack of a lack of talent and not his coaching. On paper at least, he does have a considerably deeper talent pool to work with here than he did with the Bengals. In addition to the secondary that I ran through earlier, they have a pair of proven stalwarts on the interior defensive line in DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart, an edge rusher rotation of varying experience levels that has a nice mix of power and speed (Kwity Paye, Laitu Latu, Samson Ebukam, Tyquan Lewis, rookie JT Tuimolau) and a starting inside linebacker in Zaire Franklin that is capable of racking up tackles. Frankly, the only obvious question mark that exists is at the second inside linebacker spot where career special teamer Cameron McGrone is currently slotted to become a starter for the first time in his career (if he does indeed log a start in Week 1, that will be the 1st game that he's done so in during his 4 NFL seasons). This level of balance and experience opens the door for this group to make a notable improvement. We're just going to have to wait and see if Anarumo is capable of returning to his solid form from earlier this decade after back-to-back brutal showings from units he oversaw.
Bottom Line:
While it wouldn't be a complete shock if they returned to the middling-to-decent form they've displayed over the past 2 seasons under Steichen, I'm currently getting the feeling that an ugly collapse from a coaching staff that's hanging on by a thread that mirrors what happened with the Jaguars last season is in the cards for the 2025 Colts.
Jacksonville Jaguars
2024 Record: 4-13 (3rd in AFC South)
Head Coach: Liam Coen (1st season)
Notable Additions: G Patrick Mekari, C Robert Hainsey, CB Jourdan Lewis
Notable Departures: WR Christian Kirk, S Andre Cisco, TE Evan Engram
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Drafting Travis Hunter
There were whispers in the hours leading up to the start of the NFL Draft in late April that the Jaguars were intent on making a splash. They did just that very early on in the evening when they traded up from #5 to #2 to select two-way phenom and 2024 Heisman Trophy Winner Travis Hunter. Here's the reality of the situation: It's hard to tell right now if Hunter to what degree he'll being doing that in the pros (on the current depth chart, he's listed as the starting slot receiver and the backup to 2nd year pro Jarrian Jones at left outside corner) or just how good he can be at either position at this level. What we do know is that Hunter has the potential to be a really special player that is unlike anyone currently in the league and brings some needed juice to a roster that arguably only has 1 established star (Josh Hines-Allen) and 1 potentially great young player (Brian Thomas Jr.) currently on it. Optimism and excitement for the future aren't things that are associated with the Jaguars right now, but Hunter's presence here brings a glimmer of both to the table and that's an invaluable service to provide, particularly for one of the most tortured fanbases in the league.
Biggest Reason for Concern: The Possibility That They're Letting Trevor Lawrence Waste Away
Anybody who has been stuck in a football discussion with me over the past few years knows that I'm not a big Trevor Lawrence fan. To say he hasn't lived up to the consensus pre-draft hype that labeled him as a generational talent that was the best QB prospect since Andrew Luck is an understatement. I honestly don't think he's shown a single special trait during his initial 4 seasons in the league and has continued to have his reputation elevated as a result of him winning a national championship during his true freshman season at Clemson. That being said, I also think Lawrence is good enough to be an NFL starter and part of the reason he's had so little success in the pros is the shit situation he finds himself in with the Jags.
Lawrence got thrown into the fecal deep end right away when he had the pleasure of starting his pro career with the historic trainwreck that was the Urban Meyer's brief tenure in Jacksonville. No group of players on the planet could win in that type of environment and you can't fault a rookie QB for eating shit in an environment that features such high levels of chaos and ineptitude. Doug Pederson's tenure with the team started out fine enough with a playoff berth and Wild Card Round Win over the Chargers in 2022, but quickly fizzled out when they missed the playoffs in 2023 after losing 5 of their last 6 games and put together an ugly 4-13 campaign last season that featured 9 losses by 5 points or less. Bad coaching and deeply flawed rosters have been the dominant theme since Lawrence arrived in Florida's biggest city in the spring of 2021. Now, it's up to the new team of HC Liam Coen and GM James Gladstone-who ended up with this gag after the team hilariously fired longtime GM Trent Baalke after several potential head coaching candidates expressing their disinterest in working with (word is that Coen initially declined this job and had intended to return to his role as Bucs OC, but decided to reverse course once owner Shad Khan told him he shitcanned Baalke) to try and buck this alarming trend. Can they do it? Beats me. Coen is a complete mystery given his spotty track record as a coordinator and relative lack of NFL experience (more on that shortly) and while Gladstone worked under Rams GM Les Snead in the same department that produced Lions GM Brad Holmes, he's a whippersnapper at 34 and expecting him to be the next Holmes is equally unfair and absurd at this point in time.
One thing that is certain right now is that the Jags roster pretty much fucking stinks. The offensive line is hanging its improvement hopes on notably average ex-Ravens guard Patrick Mekari and center Robert Hainsey-who started 1 game last season after losing his starting job with the Bucs to rookie Graham Barton, the secondary-particularly at safety-doesn't appear set to be much better than they were a year ago when they ranked dead last in the league in pass D and the front 7 that got completely manhandled run game a year ago is completely unchanged. With Lawrence entering year #5 and turning 26 in early October, how could anybody view this situation as acceptable? This is the point of his journey where the team is supposed to be rounding into a contender and yet, he's out her sniffing around the bottom of the league with a bunch of teams that either have super young QB's (Titans, Bears, Panthers) or lack an established starter (Browns, Giants, Jets). We're now at the point where you have to seriously question whether or not the Jaguars are wasting his ability and if the Jaguars eat shit again in 2025, they'll be inching closer to the answer being "yes".
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Liam Coen Establishing Himself as a Solid HC
One of the bigger surprises of last season was the positive effect Liam Coen had on the Bucs offense. Coen had spent his recent history prior to 2024 bouncing between being an assistant on Sean McVay's staff with the Rams and serving as the OC at Kentucky without finding much success at either (he famously returned to Kentucky in 2023 after serving as Rams OC during the 2022 season when Matthew Stafford got hurt and they went 5-12), so it was pretty surprising to see him do a much better job than Dave Canales did the prior season. Baker Mayfield found his purest form as a successful gunslinger-setting new career highs in passing YDS (4,500), TD's (41) and CMP% (71.4) while also leading the league in INT's thrown (16), a potent RB tandem was formed with rookie Bucky Irving and Rachaad White-which gave them the 4th ranked rushing offense in the league just 1 year after they ranked 32nd and Coen rose their PPG by 9 full points from their 2023 total of 20.3-which elevated them from 20th to 4th in the scoring offense rankings. That level of massive improvement with very little roster turnover made Coen a hot head coaching candidate and like Canales the year before, he ended up landing a gig that people didn't expect him to take for a team that's currently very embattled.
Right now, Coen's prospects as a HC are very hard to gauge. Nobody knows if his impeccable work last season was a flash in the pan or merely a sign that he's finally ready to coach in the pros. Although his infamous opening press conference didn't inspire conference, an awkward moment in front of the media ultimately won't dictate his ability to lead a room (just ask Super Bowl-winning coach Nick Sirianni who started his tenure with the Eagles with this bumbling gem). His McVay ties are appealing and all, but that doesn't mean he's primed to become the next Kevin O'Connell, Matt LaFluer or even Zac Taylor. He could flame out, win coach of the year or land anywhere be these two extremes. I have no guess on what he's going to do this year, which is kind of embarrassing but I also don't want to sit here and just pull in an opinion out of my ass after I pooped out a whole nonsense paragraph trying to articulate some of the reasons why I'm unsure how Coen will fare in this gig.
Convoluted word salad aside, Coen could very well elevate this seemingly hopeless team. He's a pretty young fella (he turns 40 in November) who seems capable of connecting with the guys in this locker room and turning around an offense that had its share of issues in short order by overhauling the rushing attack and putting the QB in a spot to become both more accurate and more aggressive. This division is begging for somebody to rise up and challenge the Texans and Coen could put the Jags in that spot if he does a solid enough job in his 1st season.
Bottom Line:
While I'm conflicted on whether or not Liam Coen will become a good head coach, I don't think this team is talented enough (especially on defense) to make waves in 2025 regardless.
Tennessee Titans
2024 Record: 3-14 (4th in AFC South)
Head Coach: Brian Callahan (2nd season)
Notable Additions: G Kevin Zeitler, T Dan Moore Jr., WR Tyler Lockett
Notable Departures: OLB Harold Landry, P Ryan Stonehouse, WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
Biggest Reason for Excitement: 2025 Probably Won't Be as Ugly as 2024
2024 was not the bright start to a new chapter that the Titans hoped it would be. Their scoring offense and defenses ranked in the bottom 6 in the league (27th and 30th respectively). They led the league in giveaways with an astonishing 31 (they forced 16 takeaways, which gave them an eye-popping turnover margin of -15). Brian Callahan sounded like he wanted to kill Will Levis with his bare hands every time he got up to the podium after a loss that was caused by Levis' cartoonish recklessness. Derrick Henry had arguably of the best season of his career in another uniform. Their rewards are all of their suffering was falling ass backwards into the #1 pick after the Giants and Patriots both won games they probably didn't want to win in the final 2 weeks of the regular season. This of course led to the selection of Cam Ward and Ward's arrival paired with the obligatory additions of trusted vets such as Kevin Zeitler, Xavier Woods, Cody Barton and Tyler Lockett to support their new QB indicate that brighter days are indeed ahead for Nashville's gridiron team. Now, does this mean they're going to be good? Absolutely not. This roster is still very much a work in progress and nothing Callahan did last year screamed "wow, this guy can coach!". But 2025 probably won't be as ugly as 2024 and that's precisely the step forward they need to advance their rebuilding efforts.
Biggest Reason for Concern: Offensive Line
As I alluded to above, a key part of the Titans efforts to build around Ward was to continue their serious investment in offensive line that started last season when Callahan arrived (they have a new GM in former Chiefs assistant GM Mike Borgonzi after firing Ran Carthon in January after just 2 seasons on the job). They ended up with a pair of new starters in left guard Kevin Zeitler and left tackle Dan Moore Jr. Zeitler was a solid pickup that's been a good-to-great player his whole career, although I'm completely puzzled why he'd want to spend his age-35 season on a rebuilding team opposed to a contender like the ones he's played for recently (2021-23 Ravens, 2024 Lions). Moore Jr. is a different story entirely. Unlike Zeitler-whose on a 1-year deal, Moore Jr. is hoped to be a long-term fixture with the Titans after signing a whopping 4 year/$82 mil deal ($50 mil guaranteed) in free agency. This move reeks more of wishful thinking and desperation for a steady LT above anything else as Moore Jr. was a below average player throughout his tenure for the Steelers who they had no intention of keeping the fold after his rookie contract expired at the end of last season. In fact, Moore Jr. only ended up returning to the Steelers starting lineup last season after rookie Troy Fautanu broke his kneecap at practice in between weeks 2 and 3 and their current LT Braxton Jones was forced to move back over to the right side. His return to the starting lineup wasn't a great one as he allowed a league-high 12 sacks and continued to be an average-ish run blocker in their run-driven scheme. Tasking a player of Moore's caliber to be the long-term OL anchor for a team with a young QB is a really risky proposition that could play a key role in dooming Ward's development if it backfires.
What makes these moves particularly scrutiny inducing is that they don't really move the needle much for a group that was pretty damn bad a season ago. Lloyd Cushenberry made an early case for his great 2023 with the Broncos being nothing but a contract year mirage as he graded out (55.4 overall PFF grad) as one of the worst starting centers in the league last year-which was a spot he often found himself in Denver before 2023, Peter Skoronski continues to be a complete hack as a run blocker and JC Latham had an up-and-down rookie season at RT that showed off shades of the erraticism that he displayed at Alabama. The only proven talent here is Zeitler and he's probably not going to be around beyond this season. Plenty of young teams have been done in by their offensive line play in the past and the Titans sure as shit have the look and feel of a team that could have their rebuilding hopes dashed by theirs.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Cam Ward Finding His Way Early
The possibility of a QB competition taking place during Titans training camp died when 2024 starter Levis suffered a season-ending injury to his throwing shoulder mere days before camp opened. As much of a sham as it would've been given that Ward just got drafted #1 overall and how hilariously terrible Levis was last season, it would've been a good first test for Ward's compete level-which came under scrutiny at times during his college career. Alas, Ward has the keys now and Callahan can pour his efforts into tailoring an offense around the rookie.
As obvious as the pick of Ward for the QB-needy Titans was, Ward is not considered to be a slam dunk prospect by any means. Despite the 5 years of college experience Ward has under his belt, he's considered to be one of the rawer prospects that's gone in the top 10 in recent memory. His combination of being a guy that loves to force the ball downfield, elects to hold onto the ball with the hope of something developing instead of just throwing it away and has a tendency to lock onto his first read could make his adjustment to the NFL really difficult. Of course, the elite traits that made him so appealing to the Titans are wait for it.... arm strength, athleticism and a gift for making difficult off-platform throws.
What will probably go in a long way in dictating Ward's fate as a rookie is how often his bad habits from college show up in the pros. Any coach worth a damn will be working hard for Ward to clean up his game without disrupting what made him successful in college, particularly during his Heisman Finalist campaign at Miami last year. We just got a great look of what happens when the coaching isn't their to support a young player with what Caleb WIlliams endured with the Bears last year as his tendency to hold onto the ball for too long/frantically scramble outside of the pocket too often led to him taking a ton of sacks and passing up easy gains for potential big plays. It's a tricky thing to get a young guy to alter the way he plays in a handful of months, but it's going to be necessary for Ward in particular because that chuck-and-duck shit he pulled in college isn't going to work too well in the NFL (just ask Jameis Winston, Sam Howell or his teammate Levis).
As for Ward's supporting cast, beyond the aforementioned potential offensive line woes, this group is good enough to not hang him out to dry. Tony Pollard is coming off a solid inaugural season with the Titans that should allow Callahan to run RPO's that put Ward in a good position to make some easy plays, Lockett can still fill a safety net role at this stage of his career and while his effort level isn't always there, Calvin Ridley is a productive outside receiver who can make some bigtime plays. Ward could also get the benefit of having his old friend from Miami Xavier Restrepo around if the slot receiver is able to make the final roster as an undrafted free agent, which remains a real possibility given his performance in camp so far.
Expecting Ward to be smooth out of the gate would be asinine, but we've seen some crazy unexpected rookie QB explosions before and this kid certainly has enough tangible playmaking upside to be capable of making a splash right away.
Bottom Line:
Will they take a step forward in their rebuilding efforts this season? Probably. Will they be a good team? Probably not.
Predicted Standings:
1.Houston Texans (12-5)
2.Jacksonville Jaguars (5-12)
3.Tennessee Titans (5-12)
4.Indianapolis Colts (4-13)
No comments:
Post a Comment