AFC Notes: Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, Colts, Jaguars, Texans

Colts

Colts CB JuJu Brents said he’s been leaning on CB Kenny Moore for advice going into the second year of his career and pick up off-field routines. 

“You just piggyback and learn from all the vets, for real,” said Brents, via the team’s site. “The one guy I did just follow behind was K-Mo. Just trying to figure out his daily routines, even like off the field. How he goes about his daily stuff, taking care of his body. That’s big for me. Just continuing to learn how to be a pro in that aspect.”

Colts DC Gus Bradley said Brents missing time last offseason provided some challenges in integrating him into their system.

“That part is challenging,” Bradley said. “There’s still a little bit where we’re looking at him, and you can see that he’s had some experienced play, and now when you’re going through this phase of it, you’re looking back at it, and you’re saying, ‘boy, let’s start over with him here, and let’s get him back to the fundamentals and the basics.’ It’s not so much the technique at the line of scrimmage, it’s more what are the formations, the motions, the jets, the things like that, that I think for JuJu, that’s going to be the learning curve. He missed a lot of that, even in walkthroughs and training camp.”

Brents felt like he was getting comfortable last season and is focused on taking advantage of his reps this offseason. 

“Last year, I feel like I was getting pretty comfortable, just getting those experiences early on,” Brents said. “Like even now, this year, like I said, just continuing to carry on the habit. This offseason, having these reps, which are vital, like I said, they’re like game reps the way I’ve been approaching them. So just having those reps are important, it’s big to carry on into this upcoming year.”

Jaguars

Jaguars DC Ryan Nielsen said they want to move around OLB Josh Allen to both sides so they can prevent offenses from deploying extra blockers on him. 

“We don’t want [Allen] just to be on the right side and they know he’s right here all the time and they can chip or put a tight end to his side and take what he does away,” Nielsen said, via JaguarsWire. “Then we’ve got to beat two guys to get to the quarterback. So if we move him, it makes him a little bit harder for an offense to find out and identify where he’s at every snap.”

Nielsen mentioned they are trying other players at multiple spots as well, including defensive backs. 

“We’re going to put them at these different positions in OTAs because it’s a great opportunity to see what guys can do,” Nielsen said. “Then as we see their job and if they can do certain jobs [and] then we’ll start to fine-tune a package more for their skill set.”

Nielsen added they’ll look to manipulate their defense to give Allen, EDGE Travon Walker, LB Foyesade Oluokun, DB Tyson Campbell and DB Andre Cisco good matchups. 

“It’s a matchup game, right?” Nielsen said. “We want to have the best matchups for our guys to have success. So, we’ll manipulate the front, covers, and things that we’re doing to put our guys in the best matchups for them and then ultimately play our best defense and win games. Football, a lot of it is a one-on-one game.”

Texans

Texans WR Nico Collins is excited to learn from WR Stefon Diggs and said the veteran presence will help the room as a whole.

“He’s been very successful in this league,” Collins said, via Texans Wire. “For him to be in a room with us, just the success he had on the field is no better feeling. You can pick his brain — how he moves, how he thinks, how he comes off the line of scrimmage. Things like that go a long way.”

Texans OC Bobby Slowik compared Diggs to QB C.J. Stroud in the sense that he will do whatever it takes to win.

“He is a lot like (Stroud) in that he will do absolutely anything necessary to win the game, whether he doesn’t have the ball (or) he has the ball in his hands,” Slowik said.