AFC Notes: Colts, Raiders, Titans

Colts

Colts HC Frank Reich had high praise of WRs coach Reggie Wayne in his first offseason as an assistant and said he’s already making an impact on the receivers group. 

“Reggie’s been unbelievable,” Reich said, via JJ Stankevitz of the team’s official site. “I cannot tell you how fast an adjustment he’s made to the coaching life. He’s had an impact in that room already, you can see it. A couple of things technically that he brings to the table, the way he’s teaching them to get in and out of breaks, I think. I see it, I saw it in OTAs. I feel like we’ve gotten better and then, I just think the air of confidence that Reggie has and that he’s played and played at such a high level.”

Wayne mentioned that some of their players don’t remember his playing career, which he somewhat prefers as a coach. 

“These guys, they play Madden all day. I’m not on Madden anymore,” Wayne said. “It’s just a different world, different feel. But to some degree I think that’s good. That way I can teach them who I am as I teach them how to get better.”

Wayne added that he thinks second-round WR Alec Pierce is “pressing” in their offseason program and he’s encouraging the rookie to play more relaxed. 

“Just like I was, everything’s pressing, pressing,” Wayne said. “He’s trying to be perfect on every single thing. And that’s not gonna happen, so just relax and let it come to you. You’re gonna mess up, the vets mess up, so it’s just relax, play football and let it come to you.”

Raiders

Raiders GM Dave Ziegler is confident that their team can be contenders in his and HC Josh McDaniels‘ first year with the organization. 

“Let’s go try to be as good as we can right now, try to compete right now,” Ziegler said, via Jeff Howe of The Athletic. “For me, it’s just like, why wait? Let’s try to be great now. Let’s try to be as good as we can now, build the best football team that we can now. And in doing so, you’re going to have to make some aggressive choices to do that.”

Ziegler doesn’t think that they needed to rebuild the team from top to bottom this offseason and worked to discover areas where they could improve. 

“I think you have to (take some swings), in my mind,” Ziegler said. “The reality in this league is you have to win games. Obviously, if you’re going to tear something completely down to the ground, there’s a level of patience and discipline that comes with that, from the top of your organization all the way down. And everybody has to be on the same page with that. Ultimately, we didn’t feel like that’s where this team was, so we were going to take some aggressive swings. Let’s build on what they had done last year and find some spots where we felt we could improve the team, and let’s go do it.”

McDaniels called his stint as the Broncos’ head coach in 2009-2010, where he went 8-8 and 3-9, one of the best parts of his career given he was able to learn from the experience. 

“The best part about my career was I was able to go through that and learn from it,” said McDaniels. 

Titans

Titans CB Caleb Farley said that he’s enjoyed working with recently signed WR Robert Woods this offseason. 

“We’re both hungry,” Farley said, via ESPN.com. “We got to push each other this offseason, working with each other. It’s kind of been cool to have somebody to go through the fire with.”

Woods mentioned that Farley “has been a resource” for him in training camp. 

“Caleb is a resource for me,” Woods said. “He’s young, talented, strong, fast, quick. That’s somebody I can work with and feed off of him. Being able to run hills, having somebody next to me, being able to compete.”

Farley reiterated that Woods’ veteran presence has been helpful for him and he’s proving to be a “great teammate.” 

“Just to have that guy there helping me through this offseason; talking football has been something huge for me,” Farley said. “It’s definitely a luxury. Robert Woods is a great teammate. It’s been a blessing for me to be around a guy like him to watch and learn from.”