AFC Notes: Colts, Texans, Deshaun Watson

Colts

• Colts LB Darius Leonard said he plans on playing through his ankle injury: “I’m going to just go out there and continue to do what I can do until it gets to a point where I feel like I can’t.” (Joel A. Erickson)
• Regarding Colts LT Eric Fisher‘s (Achilles), HC Frank Reich said they’re still considering whether he will play and is not ready to “100 percent commit” that he’ll available for Week 2. (Stephen Holder)

Deshaun Watson

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen appeared on The Wheelhouse podcast to discuss the possibility of Texans QB Deshaun Watson being traded. He speculates that Watson will play this season “based off the calendar” and it’s still possible for him to be traded. 

“I’ll say this, Nov. 2 is the trade deadline,” Mortensen said. “I’m of the mind right now that Deshaun Watson is going to play football this year. But that’s just me speculating. That’s not reporting. It’s just that based off the calendar, unless we get an indictment from a grand jury, I think it’s possible he gets traded. I really do.”

Mortensen still puts Watson’s odds of playing at “50-50,” while there’s currently “no indication” that a suspension or commissioner’s exemption is coming. 

“You still probably put this thing under 50-50 of happening this year. But as of right now, he isn’t suspended. There’s no indication that he’s going to be suspended or on the commissioner’s [exempt] list now. But that’s still unknown to the team acquiring Deshaun Watson.”

Texans

Texans’ HC David Culley told the media he wants QB Tyrod Taylor to get off to a faster start this Sunday against the Browns.

“I would like to see him be a little bit more consistent and get off to a little bit of a faster start,” Culley said, via TexansWire.com. “We didn’t get off to the start throwing the football that we need for him to get off to. We have to be right on when we are throwing, especially when we are throwing from the pocket. He’s got to be able to get it out — and get it out on time. I thought a couple of times that Tyrod came out of the pocket when he didn’t really need to come out of the pocket. It looked like he had pressure when he didn’t really have pressure. He should have just stepped up in the pocket and made a couple of throws where he came out and end up getting some positive yardage for that.”