AFC Notes: Quenton Nelson, Jonathan Taylor, Colts, Jaguars, Titans

Colts

  • CBS Sports’ Joel Corry wouldn’t be surprised if Colts G Quenton Nelson wants to become the league’s highest-paid interior offensive lineman again after the season, which Corry thinks could be an issue for Indianapolis.
  • Guards typically dictate the interior offensive line market, and the Raiders just gave C Tyler Linderbaum a four-year, $81 million deal this offseason. Because of this, Corry thinks Nelson could command somewhere around $29 million per year on a new deal.
  • Regarding RB Jonathan Taylor, Corry would expect him to want to be the second- or third-highest-paid on his next deal, just as he was on his last contract, signed in 2023. Dolphins RB De’Von Achane just received a four-year, $64 million extension, which made him the third-highest-paid back.
  • Corry wonders whether the Colts might be wary of paying Taylor top dollar for an extended period because of the mileage he’s accumulated over his career. Because of this, Corry thinks Taylor makes more sense as the franchise tag candidate, at a cost of $18,674,400. 
  • Indianapolis QB Daniel Jones absolutely thinks he will be ready to start Week 1 after the torn Achilles: “Definitely still work to be done and progress to be made. So, I think it’s just continuing to get stronger, continuing to run faster, cut harder. And progress, kind of, according to the program.” (Boyd)

Jaguars

Jaguars OC Grant Udinski believes that WR Parker Washington is capable of taking on more of a role within the offense and looks forward to seeing him take another step next season.

I think really, really highly of Parker,” Udinski said, via Jags Wire. “I hope that Parker thinks really, really highly of himself in that regard too, because we think that he’s capable of what he did at the end of the season last year and more than that and I think we thought that even early in the year, where the numbers statistically may not have matched what he did at the end of the year. It’s hard for me to truly gauge how much the expectations changed, but I would say our expectation for him moving forward and currently is to continue to grow and even do more than what he did last year. And I think you know I feel pretty confident saying I know he feels the same way. Not to say that we underachieved or he underachieved, but to know that he is a highly, highly capable player who’s capable of even more.”

Titans

Titans G Peter Skoronski said that he isn’t worried about potentially playing in a contract year and hopes to remain in Tennessee for the long term.

I love being here, and I hope to be here a long time,” Skoronski said, via the team’s website. “I am not really going to lose sleep over that whole topic to be honest. I am just really focused on what we’re doing here every day and trying to adjust to a new system and these new guys. All that stuff will kind of fall into place, I trust, so I let the people who make those decisions make those decisions on my end and the team’s end too. Personally, I am not worried about it. I am happy to be here and excited to work with this new group.

Skoronski has been leaning on veterans to help learn the system and said that the new additions have produced strong early results.

I’ve seen a ton of professionalism from those guys,” Skoronski said. “Austin Schlottmann has been in the system, so he knows it really well and has kind of been the anchor of that group because of how well he knows the system. He is a pro and has been in the league forever…. Cordell and Jackson have been really good sliding around, and have been on top of things schematically. Everyone has been competing well.”

Skoronski added that QB Cam Ward has looked comfortable within the system and he looks for him to take complete control of the offense this year.

We have No. 1, and he is going to be our engine,” Skoronski said of Ward. “And I’ve already seen a little bit of growth from Cam already, even in a week of actual practices. That’s really encouraging, and that’s what this new group has brought, a level of experience that I think Cam really responds to and I think they’re really playing to his strengths a lot. When you have that guy really humming, everybody falls into place behind that. And I think everyone has bought into that mentality. I think we all know the talent is there. … The leadership has always been there, and I think just the consistency. He’s tracking the right way.

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