AFC Notes: Colts, Jaguars, Texans

Colts

The Colts obviously loved what they saw of first-round DE Kwity Paye at Michigan. But there were some things they thought they could tweak, including his stance and alignment, to make him even better. At training camp, Paye has been working on the coaches to emphasize speed more than power by shading him outside the offensive tackle and putting him in a three instead of a four-point stance. 

“My stance was kind of weird at Michigan,” Paye said via the Athletic’s Stephen Holder. “I kind of had to be a power guy because I was coming right off the ball. I couldn’t really rush outside. But now, I’m in more of an elongated stance and I can just come off the ball with that first step and I just work off of that. I was in a tighter five (technique) and now I’m in a wider five.”

So far, the early results have been encouraging for the already thickly-built, 6-3, 261-pound Paye. 

“You can see him translating the things that we’re coaching and teaching,” Colts HC Frank Reich said. “You always saw the natural power, but today I saw speed. I saw speed, which we knew he had, but as a rookie, it takes you a second to play fast. And I’m starting to see him play faster and faster.”

Jaguars

Regarding the competition between Trevor Lawrence and Gardner Minshew, Jaguars OC Darrell Bevell said there is still a “status quo” among both players and thinks they are both improving. 

“We’re still going to handle it that way until we end up making the final decision,” Bevell said, via John Reid of The Florida Times-Union. “Right now, they are still status quo. We’re trying to make everybody better. We want competition at each and every position. Both guys are getting better because of it.”

Bevell said the team’s offensive struggles in their 23-13 preseason loss to the Browns “wasn’t unexpected” because they were trying new concepts. 

“It wasn’t unexpected,” Bevell said. “I kind of felt the game would go a certain way. We were asking the guys to do certain things; I thought they played well in some areas.”

Bevell added that he’d like their entire offensive system to improve its quarterback protection. 

“Obviously, there are some things I thought we could do better. Protection of the quarterback is a major emphasis. There are different reasons for it. When you say protection of the quarterback, everybody goes immediately to the offensive line, but it really takes all 11.”

Although Lawrence mentioned that he held onto the ball too long against the Browns, Bevell doesn’t think it was a major problem and believes the experience is good for the rookie. 

“I think the whole game experience for him was a really important part for him to have,” Bevell said. “He’s just had NFL training camp, NFL OTA’s, so that was his first opportunity to get in there where actually those guys can tackle him. That really changes the dynamic of it, so he will continue to get better each and every time that he goes out there.”

• According to Mark Long, the Jaguars suspect G A.J. Cann had a false positive for COVID-19 and could return to practice on Saturday. 

Texans

• The Athletic’s Aaron Reiss says that while the Texans may be open to doing some in-season trades, he doubts they’ll hold a full firesale and make guys like WR Brandin Cooks or LT Laremy Tunsil available. 
• Based on what he’s seeing in practice, Reiss thinks Bradley Roby and Terrance Mitchell will start at corner, with Desmond King coming in as the nickel, while Justin Reid and Eric Murray will start at safety, although Lonnie Johnson has rotated in quite a bit.