Jaguars

The Jaguars gave WR Jakobi Meyers a three-year extension after acquiring him at the deadline last year because of his success with QB Trevor Lawrence. In his first full off-season with the team, Meyers talked about how easy it is to get fully accustomed to the offense because of HC Liam Coen’s thorough understanding of the system. 

“I mean, for me personally, a guy who knows the offense as well as he does, like it’s easy for me when I have a mistake, he could just tell me right away,” Meyers said, via Cassandra Chesser of the Jaguars Wire. “And I can go line up and it don’t take too long. I can still kind of understand my job. So, I mean, that’s been great for me.”

Meyers also went into why he’s had such a successful connection with Lawrence.

“The way he throw the ball, he could tell you exactly where he’s thinking and we could tell him exactly what we’re thinking. So the communication, the help, the leadership, he’s been doing a good job this year.”

Texans

The Texans signed S Reed Blankenship as a free agent this offseason. Houston LB Azeez Al-Shaair highly praised Blankenship, saying he’s like having “another linebacker on the field.” 

“I think the thing that I love about Reed, it feels like having just another linebacker on the field, and I say that in the way that he communicates, just urgency. You can tell he’s obviously done it at an extremely high level, already has [a] Super Bowl to show for it and all the experience and stuff like that. I think the number one thing that I like is just seeing that his communication, even when he’s not saying the right thing, me and him, we’re talking and communicating back and forth, but he’s echoing everything and talking to the defense, but there’s been times where I might say a call and I was wrong, and he’s yelling the right thing, whereas other times, maybe I’ll say it and maybe somebody might not hear it or whatever. But, I just think the biggest thing that I’ve enjoyed about Reed being here is just that communication piece. Obviously, I know the ability and the talent that he has, which is why he’s here in the first place, but I think that’s something that I enjoy just about him, so far,” Al-Shaair said, via TexansWire. 

As for defensive players stepping into leadership roles, Al-Shaair keyed on people like DE Will Anderson Jr., CB Kamari Lassiter, and S Calen Bullock. 

“100%. I think the thing that’s so funny is that I mess with those guys all the time. Will [Anderson Jr.], I already see Will, he’s like a little big brother, so we already have our back and forth all the time. But, I think what’s funnier is Kamari [Lassiter] and Calen [Bullock] just obviously seeing them from the time they were rookies to now. They’re making fun of me all the time, calling me ‘Unc’ and all this stuff. I’m like, ‘Dude, like, I’m 28 years old,’ which in the NFL, like I said, clearly is old, I guess, but whatever. But just laughing at them because I’m like, that time is going to go faster than you think. Now you look at them going into now their third year and playing in this scheme and just seeing how confident they are, how comfortable they are, and even like today, Kamari breaking it down and just seeing the growth, it’s been awesome to see and just continue to take that next step for them. Obviously, they made great accomplishments in their first two years in the league and just challenging them all the time like, ‘How far are you trying to go? How much better can you be? How far do you want to take your game? Not just on the field, but all the intangible stuff off the field.’ I think that’s some of the stuff that I’ve been seeing from both of them, just with leading the younger guys, because now you become the vet to all these new rookies coming in. Next thing you know, they’re going to start calling you ‘Unc,’ so I tell Kamari all the time, he can’t be wearing them little tank top shirts with a belly button hanging out when you ‘Unc’ now, I guess. I told him he got to start dressing like a grown man now, so he can’t be wearing them shirts.”

Titans

• Titans DL Jeffery Simmons is entering the third year of a four-year, $94 million deal. When asked about his contract situation, Simmons said he is letting his agent handle it: “This organization has been nothing but good to me. When it comes to the contract, I’ll let everything play out. When it comes to the contract, my agent (Todd France) and the team will get it worked out.” (Terry McCormick)
• A few days after this comment, Simmons signed a record extension worth around $35 million per year.