AFC Notes: Colts, Jaguars, Texans

Colts

• Per Aaron Wilson, the Colts worked out several long snappers including Trey Harper, Brian Khoury, Kyle Nelson, and Garrison Sanborn. The team later ended up signing Nelson on Friday.

Jaguars

Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports that the Jaguars are searching for a second executive to pair with GM Trent Baalke as a director of player personnel or assistant GM, with one NFL personnel executive saying the team will have to pay more due to “lack of stability.”

“They will have to pay highly for that role to account for … lack of stability,” the personnel executive told Jones. “They won’t be able to pluck anyone who is in a good situation with their current team.”

• Jaguars interim HC Darrell Bevell hasn’t thought about holding QB Trevor Lawrence out this week, regardless of the offensive linemen on the COVID-19 list. (Michael DiRocco)
• The Jaguars hosted WR Devonte Dedmon and S Bradley McDougald on Friday, with McDougald eventually signing with the team. (Aaron Wilson)

Texans

While there has been chatter about Houston giving HC David Culley another year following back-to-back late-season wins, PFN’s Tony Pauline suggests that the team could move on from Culley after one season and bring in Patriots OC Josh McDaniels as the team’s new Head Coach.

“You know, this was something I heard earlier this week, and it’s one of those situations — one of those things you hear, you’re like, ‘Nah, that’s not going to happen.’ But the more I delved into it, the more calls I made, the more people are telling me there’s a very good chance that Culley is fired after one year of coaching the Houston Texans, and Nick Caserio brings in Josh McDaniels. That is the hot name as far as a replacement in Houston right now. Obviously, Caserio and McDaniels have a long history or had a long history at New England, where they won a lot of Super Bowl championships.”

A key factor in whether McDaniels would be interested in the Houston job is if he feels that rookie QB Davis Mills is capable of winning a championship.

“I think the question people think Josh McDaniels has to answer in his mind- Is Davis Mills the quarterback of the future (in Houston)? Can he work with Davis Mills to build a competitive and then championship franchise with the Houston Texans?” 

Pauline suggests that McDaniels may even feel that rookie QB Mac Jones isn’t the guy that can win a championship in New England, and will look to move on if the team is one-and-done in the playoffs.

“Because there’s no quarterback at the top of the draft worth taking. There’s no quarterback really in the top 12 picks worth taking. You may have a quarterback go early, but that is a team going to reach one. So right now, the big rumor coming out of Houston is Culley could be gone after the year, and then Caserio hires Josh McDaniels.”

Pauline notes that while McDaniels met with the Philadelphia Eagles this past offseason for their coaching vacancy, he did not speak with the Texans. EVP of football operations Jack Easterby was keen on McDaniels, while GM Nick Caserio was less sure.

Pauline finally points out the control aspect of bringing in McDaniels. Caserio communicates with Culley and is involved in-game. Pauline questions whether McDaniels will be open to such an arrangement or if he would want to operate with autonomy, which may or may not jive with the current system the Texans have in place.