AFC Notes: Colts, Jaguars, Texans

Colts

Colts WR T.Y. Hilton said Carson Wentz reached out to him shortly after being traded to the organization and he told the quarterback that he planned to return to Indianapolis. 

“He wants to play football with me and I want to play with him,” Hilton said, via The Pat McAfee Show. “It’s been incredible for him to just continue to reach out to me as I’m a free agent. And I respect him a lot. I can’t wait to get to work with him. I told him, if you need me, I’m gonna be there. I’ll go though the fire with you. And he said I’ll do the same for you. So we look forward to it and it’s going to be good. It’ll be some big things happening in Indy.”

Hilton added that the pandemic makes building chemistry with Wentz a unique challenge, but is confident they’ll adjust.

“COVID makes everything tough. But you’ve just got to do it virtually right now,” Hilton said. “And whenever you get together, you can start building that chemistry, start learning the playbook, start learning what Carson likes, what he doesn’t like. What spots he wants you at, how he likes to call the plays, what he likes to check to. What routes I like to run. So once we get those things down, the rest will be easy.”

Jaguars

For a lot of players, being traded from the Saints and leaving a perennial contender to join the Jaguars, the literal worst team in football last season, would not be cause for celebration. That wasn’t the case for DT Malcom Brown, though. Once he knew the Saints were moving on from him one way or another, he was thrilled to land with a new Jaguars’ coaching staff that includes his former college head coach Charlie Strong.

”I was ecstatic,” Brown said via John Reid of the Florida Times-Union. “I heard what coaches were here and what direction they were going in and like I said, I was happy. I already knew the situation I was in over in New Orleans, I already knew they had to get under cap space. When the trade happened, I was on the phone, I was happy, I was running around the house. It doesn’t matter where the program was last year, it’s about what we do next year.”

Texans

• According to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, the Texans were nearly ready to trade QB Deshaun Watson after he met with new HC David Culley and remained adamant about moving on.
• McClain adds that the Texans were looking for a new franchise quarterback in exchange for Watson, yet his legal situation now makes it unlikely they will be able to trade him prior to the draft.