AFC Notes: Colts, Jaguars, Texans, Brandin Cooks

Colts

• The Athletic’s Zak Keefer notes the Colts paid roster bonuses that were recently due to veterans like CB Kenny Moore, C Ryan Kelly, and DT DeForest Buckner — $2.5 million in total. 
• Moore and Kelly had come up as potential trade candidates or even cuts, so Keefer says it’s notable that Indianapolis held onto them and paid out the bonuses. The team is hitting the reset button on the roster and taking a long-term view, but isn’t ready to dump Kelly or Moore for nothing in return.
• Ravens QB Lamar Jackson still hasn’t gotten any offer sheet interest from other teams but Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post writes other teams believe the Colts, Jets, Falcons and Patriots could get involved at some point.  

Jaguars

• Per Aaron Wilson, the Jaguars’ new deal with CB Tre Herndon is for one year and is worth $2.582 million guaranteed, and includes a signing bonus of $152,500.
• According to Wilson, the team’s two-year deal with DL Adam Gotsis is for $2.88 million with $1.25 million guaranteed and a $250,000 signing bonus.
• Minnesota CB Terell Smith has formally met with the 49ers, Dolphins, Jaguars, and Steelers. He also has top-30 visits scheduled with the Commanders and Vikings. (Justin Melo)

Texans

Texans GM Nick Caserio refuted the report that he took a lesser deal this offseason to trade WR Brandin Cooks than what was offered during the season.

“I would say going back to the season stuff, quite frankly there’s a lot of ‘experts’ that spoke on this topic that quite frankly had no idea what they’re talking about,” Caserio said, via Texans Wire. “So, I think things that are actually reported aren’t even close to being true. But nonetheless, in this particular case, in the end, we felt this was the best decision for everybody involved.”

Caserio added the team had to take in all the information given in order to make the best decision for the team.

“The trade, the markets, trades are always dictated by what a team is willing to pay, and then a team on the other end, in this case the Houston Texans, we have to make the decision whether or not we feel comfortable and it makes sense, or we want to wait around and see if you can ‘get a better deal.’ So, in the end, our responsibility is take all of the information there is, process that information, make the decision that we feel is in our best interest. So, that’s why we did what we did,” Caserio added.