AFC South Notes: Colts, Texans, DeAndre Hopkins

Colts

Colts QB Andrew Luck has been held out of the past three OTA sessions with what HC Frank Reich termed a minor calf injury. However, Reich said Luck could play if it were the regular season and the team is just being cautious with their star quarterback. 

“It’s killing him,” Reich said via the Athletic’s Stephen Holder. “He could be out there. He would be out there (if it was the regular season). But you have to take these things seriously. You have to trust it. What I’ve learned, especially after what we went through last year, trust the people and trust the process. I trust Andrew and the process of everybody in the building we’ve got working on him, and I trust they’ll make the best decision for the team.”

• Holder says Colts WR Chester Rogers will need to become more consistent and prove his value on special teams, as those are the attributes Reich mentioned the Colts valued for their final wide receiver spots: “It’s a question of who can stay healthy, who can stay consistent and who can contribute on special teams for that fourth and fifth spot.”
• Holder mentions that the Colts internally had questions about if DT Gerald McCoy could still play at a high level, which is why they weren’t more involved trying to sign him. 

DeAndre Hopkins

Texans WR DeAndre Hopkins played hurt for most of the 2018 season, even though he didn’t miss a game and still caught 115 passes for 1572 yards and 11 touchdowns.  

“Last year was tough, not just physically but mentally,” Hopkins said via John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. “It’s the most banged up I’ve ever been playing football.”

Hopkins dealt with a foot injury for much of the season, then never came off the field during the playoff loss to the Colts even after he tore ligaments off the bone in his shoulder. 

“I was dealing with serious injuries [last season] a lot of people would have sat down for,” Hopkins said. “But we had a good team that depended on me, and I never gave a thought to not playing unless the doctors told me I couldn’t.” 

Texans

• Per the Houston Chronicle’s John McClain, the Texans’ interview of former Browns GM Ray Farmer satisfies the Rooney Rule.  
• McClain says other candidates include Patriots’ director of player personnel Nick Caserio, Patriots’ director of college scouting Monti Ossenfort, former Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie and former Falcons’ assistant GM Scott Pioli.