AFC Notes: Jaguars, Texans, Titans

Jaguars

• FIU OL coach Greg Austin is being hired to the Jaguars’ coaching staff as an assistant OL coach. (Eric Henry)

Texans

• ESPN did an offseason quarterback landing spot simulation with beat reporters standing in as the GMs of their respective teams. The Texans signed veteran QB Jimmy Garoppolo to serve as a bridge quarterback, then ultimately also used the No. 2 pick on Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud.

Titans

Titans new GM Ran Carthon said that they are looking for players in HC Mike Vrabel‘s desired mold this offseason. 

“I think Mike (Vrabel) said it — we want big, physical, tough guys. Fast guys. Instinctive guys. But from a non-physical standpoint, we want passionate guys that love football. That live, eat and breathe it. We know who Mike Vrabel is. He checked all the boxes of what we’re looking for in who he is, not only as a player but as a man. We want players that mimic that,” said Carthon, via Chase Goodbread. 

Carthon points out that his father, Maurice Carthon, was an assistant on the Chiefs’ staff during Vrabel’s final two years of his playing career. 

“I just met Mike two Tuesdays ago. But my dad, Mike’s last two years in Kansas City, my dad (Maurice Carthon) was an assistant head coach on that staff. So I think Mike knows my DNA and the cloth I’m cut from. But more than anything, our football foundation is rooted from the same tree. We see the game similarly. So that allows us to have conversations ahead of where two guys who just met would generally start.”

Carthon added that it’s important for him and Vrabel to always be on the same page. 

“Let’s be real, it can’t work if we’re not on the same page. The question has come up of who has control over the 53, and I forever say that does not matter. Because at the end of the day, Mike is the football coach. Mike is the architect of the offensive system, the defensive system, the special teams system. So I have to learn and know what these systems are and what’s required in these systems, and then my staff and I have to go about finding players who fit that system. It’s going to take a collaborative effort. I’ve never seen it work where (a GM and coach) are on two different pages. We’re building a team, we’re not just collecting talent.”