AFC Notes: Colts, Texans, Titans

Colts

According to Colts’ HC Frank Reich, defensive linemen Denico Autry and DeForest Buckner will not be activated from the COVID-19 reserve list. Reich and LB Darius Leonard are embracing the next man up mentality that most of the league has been forced to accept this season.

“This is normal in the NFL,” Reich said, via George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin. “Good teams overcome it, so that is what we need to do. That’s the great thing about football: It’s not a one-man show. Sure, every player is important and every player adds a unique contribution. When you get players who go down, at one level you miss them, but I’ve just seen this in this game for so long and so many times that good teams overcome it because they believe because they have good depth, because (of) the guys who step up and play great and the rest of the team plays great. That’s what we’ll do.”

“Next man up. It is what it is,” Leonard said. “The other guy in front of him has to do his preparation and just play. It’s not just one guy. It’s 11 guys, so we all just have to team up, do our jobs and go from there.”

• Tom Pelissero reports that Colts RB Jonathan Taylor has been quarantined since Friday after his girlfriend tested positive for COVID-19 following a trip out of town trip.
• Although Taylor did not test positive for the virus, he is going through COVID-19 protocols with a high-risk close contact designation and subsequently ruled out from Week 12. 

Texans

• Aaron Reiss of The Athletic expanded on the release of WR Kenny Stills by the Texans, noting that he was the odd man out after the team acquired WR Brandin Cooks and WR Randall Cobb. The release also opens up bigger roles for WR Keke Coutee and rookie WR Isaiah Coulter.
• The team also struggled to trade Stills prior to the deadline due to there not being much of a market for a receiver who wasn’t seeing much playing time on a team that was 1-6 at the time.
• Reiss also says that because the Texans are essentially out of the playoffs, they had no need to keep Stills around, as he cost $7 million against their cap in the final year of his contract. Houston can still create around $2 million in cap space if a team chooses to claim Stills’ off of waivers.

Titans

• Jim Wyatt of the team’s official site expects Titans’ veteran LB Daron Bates to continue playing on special teams given he’s still behind ILB Will Compton on the depth chart. 
• Regarding Titans’ rookie OT Isaiah Wilson, Wyatt notes that he is still trying to “work his way up” the offensive line’s pecking order.