AFC South Notes: Colts, Jaguars, Texans, Titans

Colts

Although Colts owner Jim Irsay said GM Chris Ballard will “make the call” in the 2020 NFL Draft, he added that their decision at quarterback will be made between himself, Ballard, and HC Frank Reich.

“Generally, almost always go along, in the end on draft day, Chris (Ballard) is going to make the call,” Irsay said, via Kevin Bowen of 1075TheFan. “The quarterback position, the three of us will make it. We have to. It’s too big of a decision. All options are on the table.”

Irsay believes QB Jacoby Brissett still needs time to develop as a starter but came away “disappointed” when they were unable to win Week 17’s game against the Jaguars.

“I think that Jacoby is on the rise, and you’ve got to give him time to develop. People forget that Peyton, one of the greatest ever in my opinion, the greatest, I mean, 3-13 in ’98, 2001, 6-10. All of the sudden, Jacoby goes 7-9, it’s like the world’s falling apart. I mean, we had a lot of injuries, special teams wasn’t outstanding and the combination of those things and Jacoby being a starter for the first time, that’s a lot to overcome. I mean, 7-9 isn’t bad. We wanted to win the last game in Jacksonville. We were disappointed we couldn’t. We wanted to. But, right now, Jacoby is the starter. Hoyer, if that’s the backup – I think that’s our starting point, and I think that’s better than probably half the league,” Irsay said. 

Irsay said Brissett could have a “higher ceiling” but they plan to be “open-minded” about the position. 

“You guys know how important that is. You know I know how important that is. I know we’ll find the right answer and Jacoby can have a much higher ceiling that he has now. That’s a possibility. We could draft someone. That’s a possibility. Doesn’t have to be the first round. There’s a lot of good players out there… Chris and Frank and I have really talked about this and, man. we’re really open-minded. There’s a lot of ways this thing could turn.”

Jaguars

• NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo confirms the Jaguars have received trade inquiries regarding QB Nick Foles and could move him for the right offer.
• However, Garafolo clarifies Jacksonville is not shopping Foles and plans on having him compete with Gardner Minshew for the starting job. 
• Adam Caplan mentions that the Jaguars make the most sense as a potential landing spot for free agent QB Colt McCoy given his ties to new OC Jay Gruden.

Texans

• According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Texans plan to re-sign LS Jon Weeks at the start of the league year.

Titans

Titans QB Ryan Tannehill said in an interview with Sirius XM NFL Radio that he would like to re-sign with Tennessee, but it remains to be seen how things will play out. 

“I’d like to be back. We’ll see what happens, obviously getting down to the last couple of weeks here… We’ll see, it’s going to be an exciting couple of weeks no matter what happens,” said Tannehill, via SiriusXM NFL Radio. 

Tannehill added that he was not able to speak with other teams when entering the final year of his contract with the Dolphins prior to being traded. 

“I learned a lot last year, being in the situation I was last year where I was still under contract, knew I wasn’t going back to Miami, but I was still under contract and couldn’t really do anything. Free agency had opened, I wasn’t able to talk to any other teams or anything like that… At this point, it’s all a matter of playing the waiting game and see what happens here in the next couple of weeks,” said Tannehill.