AFC Notes: Colts, Texans, Titans

Colts

Colts GM Chris Ballard compared their acquisition of Carson Wentz to when they signed Philip Rivers ahead of the 2020 season. 

“When it came to Carson, it was a little like Philip (Rivers) last year. Frank and Nick Sirianni had a really good relationship with Philip. He knew the offense, and it was almost a seamless transition when we brought him in,” said Ballard, via the Colin Cowherd podcast. “I almost see the same thing with Carson here over the first month and a half where it’s a pretty seamless transition for Carson just because of his relationship with Frank, who also happens to be the play-caller.”

Ballard stressed the importance of having a quarterback he feels “comfortable with,” which made the decision to trade for Wentz “a lot easier.” 

“I don’t think you can ever minimize how important that is Colin,” Ballard said. “The quarterback has to feel comfortable with who’s pulling the strings and who’s pulling the trigger. And that made the trade for Carson a lot easier because I knew there was a trust level between the two of them, and trust is everything in this league and trust between the quarterback and the play-caller is everything.”

Texans

An NFL executive tells Mike Sando of The Athletic that while Stanford QB Davis Mills offers some upside as a prospect, he’s not someone they viewed as a starter at the next level. 

“Their situation is such a mess,” an exec said of the Texans. “A lot of people do like Mills as a starter. I saw him more as a No. 2. People think he’s ultra smart, which he may be, but I didn’t necessarily see it on tape. Sometimes those guys at Stanford and Duke, people just assume they are the smartest guys in the room, but he made some bad decisions. He does have a good arm, he does flash some NFL throws. I see what they saw. I just didn’t see it to the starter level. (Kyle) Trask, to me, was much more accurate, better decision maker, he’s bigger.”

Titans

Titans GM Jon Robinson had high praise of fourth-round WR Dez Fitzpatrick, describing that he likes the receiver’s size, speed, route running, blocking, and catching ability. 

“We watched a lot on him and we like his size. We like his speed. We like his length,” Robinson said via Turon Davenport of ESPN. “He’s got good route-running skills. He’s got some things he’s got to clean up. I love his toughness. I love his tenacity as a blocker. He’s good in traffic catching the football.”

Fitzpatrick mentioned that the Titans came away “really impressed” by his ability to play as an outside and inside receiver. 

“They said that they’re really impressed that I can play inside, outside at my size,” Fitzpatrick said. “Going back to my first two years at Louisville, I played the Z position, which allowed me to play inside and outside, but the last two years at Louisville I played the X position. They liked how I can move at a big size, a thicker frame.”

“I feel like for you to be a deep threat, that’s how it comes — that’s how you get your separation in your intermediate routes and your shorter routes,” Fitzpatrick said. “They respect everything if they think that you’re going deep. The slants and the hitches and everything works better when they respect your deep threat, and that’s kind of how you got to go about things.”