AFC Notes: Brian Callahan, Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars, Texans, Titans

Jaguars

Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence is confident that new HC Liam Coen can help the team get back on track.

“I really like the people we have here now,” Lawrence said, via the team’s website. “I love the system. I love the staff, the players that we brought in, along with the guys that were already here. I feel very confident in where we’re going and the trajectory we’re heading. You can’t change the past. I would love to have had a little more success up until this point, but this is where we’re at, and I love where we’re at. I have a lot of confidence in it, and we just have to keep putting the work in out here every day to prepare ourselves for the fall.”

Texans

The Texans re-signed CBs Derek Stingley and Jalen Pitre to big extensions this offseason, while they signed WR Nico Collins to a large deal last year. GM Nick Caserio said each player embodies the type of player they want to keep around in Houston. 

“The players earned those opportunities with their play and performance,” Caserio said, via Aaron Wilson. “These are players that we think can help our football team moving forward. They certainly embody the quality we want the Houston Texans to look like. They are good football players, and our goal is to keep as many good football players around here as for as long a period of time as we can. It’s a credit to the players and the coaches for putting themselves in that position.”

Caserio mentioned that each player has shown commitment to what they are building. 

“I’ll kind of handle the behind-the-scenes and the finances or the finance. Those players, they’ve all been here. Pitre has been here, Stingley has been here. Talk about going back to last year with Nico, he’s in here. That says a lot about their commitment to winning and football, prioritizing their job and its importance.”

Pitre said staying put was important to him, given that he considers Houston to be his home. 

“Yeah, I definitely want to keep it going,” Pitre said. “You know this is home for me. This is where all my family is, this is where I first started playing football. So, it’s definitely a lot of memories here. And I definitely want to continue to play for the Houston Texans. This is my city, and I love this city.

Titans

Titans HC Brian Callahan expressed confidence in OT Dan Moore, who the team signed in free agency, being able to fill the left tackle spot.

“You watch the sacks they give up, you watch the pressures they give up, and you watch penalties. And you try to determine what’s fixable and maybe what isn’t, and what you’re okay with,” Callahan explained, via the team’s website. “There’s things that I think he can be corrected in, technique-wise, that are going to help him a lot. There’s some things that—sometimes you just get beat by good players, which the AFC North has a few of them and we’ll see a few of them ourselves. And so there’s that part of it, and how can you help in those situations, schematically? But yeah, you watch all of it and you have to go through and you see what’s fixable and what maybe isn’t fixable, but you can help with the process of it. So there’s no perfect player. They’re all going to have things that they got to get better at. And we felt really comfortable with Dan (Moore) and he’s been fantastic since he’s been here in that regard, so excited to have him.”

Callahan said OT JC Latham, whom the team selected in the first round last year, looks much better this offseason than he did at the end of the year.

“Yeah, he really committed himself to getting his weight at the range that he needed to get it to. He probably admittedly was heavy at the end of last season as the second half of the year wore on. He learned a lot of lessons himself about what it takes to play tackle in this league. The caliber of players you face every week, and there’s no let down. And I think every rookie goes through that phase where they realize, ‘Man, whatever I did before I got to do it better if I want to have a chance to be the player I think I’m capable of being.’ And JC (Latham) is capable of being an excellent football player and he really dedicated himself to changing his body like a lot of first-year players going into their second year find ways to do. He looks great, he’s in great shape, he’s moving really well. I’m excited about where he’s at but all the credit goes to him and just understanding what he realized it was going to take to be the player that he wants to be and he dedicated himself to it.“