AFC Notes: Colts, Texans, Titans

Colts

Following a career-high 20 carries against the Lions, Colts’ OC Nick Sirianni says that RB Jordan Wilkins should expect a bigger role moving forward.

“Jordan did a great job, just like Jordan Wilkins has done for the three years that I’ve been here and the three years that he’s been here,” Sirianni said, via Kevin Bowen of 107.5 The Fan. “I feel like he always takes advantage of his opportunities, so excited about what he did, and look forward to continuing to grow in the run game. Whenever you have a guy who takes advantage of the opportunities the way Jordan has, I think you always are going to ask that question. Jordan has done nothing but earn more opportunities and he’ll continue to get more opportunities. I think that’s fair.”

Colts’ HC Frank Reich says that his team has done a good job spreading the ball around to different receivers, which has helped them due to their lack of a true No. 1 receiver.

“They can’t scheme to stop one guy, because we are spreading it around,” Reich said. “That’s the biggest positive. They don’t know who we are throwing to on third down. Or when we get into the red zone, who we are going to feature because we are going to spread it around. The other positive of that is we are continuing to develop our football team into playmakers, with our running backs, tight ends, and our receivers, all of our skill guys. We talk about being an unselfish room and everybody stepping up and making plays. We feel like we are getting that and building confidence in our whole roster.”

• Reich adds that he learned after the game that rookie RB Jonathan Taylor has a “little bit of an ankle issue.”
• Colts WR T.Y. Hilton (groin) didn’t practice Wednesday, per Reich: “Right now it’s still too early to tell (for Sunday vs. Baltimore) but he will not practice today.” (Andrew Walker)
• Taylor is expected to practice, while Reich added DE Kemoko Turay will continue to practice but might not make it back this week. (Walker)

Texans

• Per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, Texans interim HC Romeo Crennel said the trade offers they received ahead of yesterday’s deadline didn’t improve much from the “peanuts” they’d been offered before: “No one was offering a deluxe nuts package.”
• Crennel is happy to put the trade deadline behind the team, especially for players like WR Will Fuller: “Guys are not worried about being traded, now let’s focus on football. I told (Fuller) I want him on the team.” (Wilson)
• The Texans declined an offer from the Seahawks for OLB Jacob Martin, who was traded to Houston last year as a part of the package for Jadeveon Clowney. (Wilson)
• Texans QB Deshaun Watson says he wants to be involved in the rebuilding process for Houston: “I want to be involved in the process, being the franchise quarterback, so of course I want to make sure we’re all on the same page and clicking the right way.” (Wilson)
• Watson is happy trade talks with Fuller didn’t materialize into anything: “The rumors are the rumors, I was talking to Will during the whole process. It’s good to keep him in that locker room. He’s my brother, my friend, It’s good to continue to throw to him.” (Wilson)

Titans

• Per Titans Insider’s Terry McCormick, Titans GM Jon Robinson owned up to making a mistake by signing OLB Vic Beasley: “Not every decision we make works out. We spent a lot of time with him trying to get him going, and at the end of the day we felt it was best to go in a different direction and cut him from the team.”
• Beasley was late to camp with an unexcused absence that Robinson says was medical in nature. (Jim Wyatt)
• Robinson is happy with what the Titans are getting from OLB Jadeveon Clowney: “I think Clowney has given us some really good snaps, made some disruptive plays in every game he’s been in. He’s working to get back to making turnovers/sack whatever it may be.” (Paul Kuharsky)
• The Titans also made the decision to move on from DB Johnathan Joseph to give more opportunities to other players, per Robinson: “I have a ton of respect for him and what he has done in the NFL. At the end of the day we wanted to look at younger guys.” (Wyatt)
• The third player the Titans made the decision to axe was LS Beau Brinkley: “I love Beau Brinkley. He’s a pro’s pro. He’s a hard worker, he’s a good teammate. But it was something that he had kind of gotten sideways on a little bit. We didn’t see him fixing it so I felt like we needed to make a move there.” (Erik Bacharach)
• The Titans are hosting four punters for workouts this week including Ryan Allen, Dustin Colquitt, Trevor Daniel and Lachlan Edwards. (Aaron Wilson)