AFC Notes: Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars, Texans, Titans

Jaguars

As part of the natural progression of coming into his own as a franchise player, Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence is starting to take more of a leadership role on the team. That’s enhanced even more by having continuity in the same system for the first time as a professional. 

“His voice carries a lot of weight,” Jaguars QB coach Mike McCoy said via USA Today. “When he speaks up, whether it’s in practice, whether it’s in a meeting, whether it’s on game day, everybody listens.”

Texans

Texans HC DeMeco Ryans said first-round QB C.J. Stroud is continuously improving in their offseason program and was very impressive in situational drills. 

“C.J. is progressing well,” Ryans said, via Brooks Kubena of the Houston Chronicle. “Each day, he continues to get better, continues to get more comfortable with the verbiage of the offense and his command of the huddle. I thought this week he has been really good, coming off of a long weekend. It was very eye-opening how on it he was… He did an awesome job in our situational periods, So, he is definitely progressing in the right direction, and the sky is the limit for him.”

Texans DC Matt Burke has been impressed with Stroud as well and points out the rookie is always looking for advice. 

“His deliberateness and intent to try to get better — he’s literally grabbing everybody he can on the field,” Burke said. “So, he’s been very sort of intentional about learning and just learning defense, too, like what did you call there, what was that coverage, or what did you do here. I respect that from him.”

Titans

Titans first-round OL Peter Skoronski is aware of the criticism surrounding the length of his arms and said during a recent media appearance that he tried anything he could to increase his arm length yet nothing seemed to work out.

“I think that’s (arm length) definitely a good attribute to have, especially in pass protection to keep someone off your body,” Skoronski told Barstool Sports. “But I don’t think — and I’ve said this pretty much the whole process — I don’t think that’s the only factor or even a huge factor, in my opinion. I think there’s so much that goes into it (blocking).”

“During combine training, I was hanging from bars and doing soft-tissue work on shoulders and my arms and my lats,” Skoronski continued. “That day (the day of the combine), we had our manual therapy people working on me for 30 minutes, and I was stretching and doing everything I can, and then I measured at the combine the exact same as I did before.”