AFC Notes: Jaguars, Texans, Titans

Jaguars

• Jordan Schultz reports that Jaguars free agent WR D.J. Chark is worth watching in the coming weeks, as he’s spoken with three teams already prepared to recruit and pay him big money.
• A GM tells Schultz: “We like him a lot. He’s only going to get better too.”
• The Jaguars met with Alabama OT Evan Neal at the Combine. (John Reid)

Texans

Texans HC Lovie Smith thinks there is no reason that the team can’t go far with QB Davis Mills as their leader.

“I got a chance to see Davis in a lot of different situations last year,” Smith said, via TexansWire.com. “Early on, he wasn’t starting, so he worked against the one defense quite a bit. I love his demeanor. He’s a smart guy. He went to Stanford, right? Smart guy. Teammates buy into him. I also got a chance to see a lot of the young quarterbacks in the league play, and I thought Davis played about as well as most of them. It was important too of course to keep Pep Hamilton on board, them being able to work together two years in a row. Again, I’m pumped up that he’ll be leading us and excited about his future.”

• Oregon DE Kayvon Thibodeaux met with the Texans at the combine, comparing himself to Browns LB Jadeveon Clowney: “I’m like Jadeveon 2.0” (Brooks Kubena)

Titans

Titans HC Mike Vrabel wouldn’t fault Ryan Tannehill for his 14 interceptions last season and thinks their offense can collectively improve on executing. 

“I think what that entails is that everybody has an expectation,” Vrabel said, via Ben Arthur of the Nashville Tennessean. “There’s an expectation for the linemen to protect inside out, not get beat inside. Making sure that we’re firm in the middle of the pocket and that we run the edge rushers by. Every offensive lineman, we try to teach them their responsibility for ball security. And when we’re running routes, (making sure) they’re running the right routes. And when we catch the ball, we catch it with the technique in which we teach it, which is out in front of our body with our hands. Yeah, we threw (14) interceptions. But there was a quarterback mistake, there was a protection mistake, we bounced (balls) off our shoulder pads. That all goes into offensive football. That has to be better. It starts with me, it starts with our coaching staff and also it falls on our players to understand why things happen.”

Vrabel reiterated that Tannehill is their franchise quarterback and that they must improve as a whole. 

“Ryan has won too many games for us, been a part of too many huge victories for us, done too much for us, to (view that he’s not our guy),” Vrabel said.

Vrabel mentioned that players at other positions must also avoid making mistakes 

“We have to be better. That’s unacceptable. Ryan knows that. He’ll tell you that. You can’t make some of those mistakes. But he’s also not the only person out there making mistakes. It will never be about one person because we know how critical the quarterback is to the success of the team.”