AFC South Notes: Jaguars, Texans, Titans

Jaguars

Heading into last week, Jaguars owner Shad Khan was confident enough in CB Jalen Ramsey‘s return to the team following a heart-to-heart discussion regarding the star corner’s trade request and subsequent absence with a back injury that he told a reporter to tune in for Jacksonville’s game against the Saints to see Ramsey play. However, when Ramsey didn’t play, that proved to be the final straw for Khan according to a report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Khan gave the green light for Jaguars EVP Tom Coughlin and GM Dave Caldwell to find the best offer they could for Ramsey. After the Rams gave up two first-round picks and a 2021 fourth-round pick, Khan believes they finally reached a resolution that was “fair for all parties.”

“What I think is basically what I’ve been saying, that we have to respect individual players and do the right thing for the Jags,” Khan said via NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport. “I think this is definitely the right thing for the Jaguars. I’m really proud of, as a team, how they’ve done and I think this really puts us in a good place moving forward.”

For his part, Ramsey said his relationship with the Jaguars started to go south when the team hired Coughlin in 2017, though he didn’t call out Coughlin by name. After getting hurt during voluntary OTA’s his first two years, Ramsey says he started training on his own before mandatory team activities began. He resented comments by Coughlin that he took as questioning his work ethic. 

“I was basically portrayed, I guess you could say as a bum to be honest,” Ramsey said in an interview with ESPN’s Ryan Clark. “I was portrayed as a guy who didn’t work hard, as a guy who, ‘oh he was just given everything, that’s why he’s not here working hard, he’s probably just chilling.’…Whatever was said was said. That rubbed me the wrong way, it definitely rubbed me the wrong way, because that’s not who I am, first of all. And then, when I did get back for the mandatory stuff and everything else, that was never a conversation with me. I was never pulled into a meeting, never called for a meeting or anything so they could explain why they would say such things or their views on things.”

Texans

• According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Texans are paying practice squad QB Alex McGough the full $495,000 active roster minimum salary. 

Titans

At the end of 2018, Titans QB Ryan Tannehill could see the writing on the wall for the end of his tenure with the Dolphins. So he and his agent took a look at quarterback situations around the league where a starter was either injured or vulnerable to find Tannehill’s next best opportunity to start. They landed on Tennessee, as incumbent QB Marcus Mariota had been unable to stay healthy for a full season and was entering a contract year without an extension. 

“We were proactively looking at situations around the league and what we thought represented the best opportunity to get on the field,” Tannehill’s agent Pat Dye said via NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport. “It didn’t matter if it was on planet Mars, he wanted the opportunity to be a starter.”

Rapoport says when the Titans agreed to trade for Tannehill, it was with the goal of having a reliable backup for Mariota in case of injury, not performance. Tannehill agreed to a new, one-year, $7 million deal as part of the trade that includes a $250,000 roster bonus if he’s active for 13 games. He also has incentives including: 

• $100,000 bonus for being named a starter or reserve to the Pro Bowl,
• $250,000 for a passer rating of 92.8 (224 attempt minimum), $500,000 with a 94.0 rating, $750,000 with a 95.0 rating and $1 million with a 96.0 rating. 
• $250,000 for 18 passing touchdowns, $500,000 for 20, $750,000 for 23 and $1 million for 25. 
• $500,000 for hitting 2,250 passing yards, $750,000 for 2,750 yards and $1 million for more than 3,000.
• $100,000 per each game he plays more than half the team’s snaps, provided either he or the Titans improve statistically in various categories like touchdowns, total offense, sacks allowed, completion percentage, etc.
• $25,000 per each game the Titans win when he plays more than half of the snaps.