It’s time for some more grades.
Today, I’ll be taking my turn at reviewing the off-season for teams across the AFC South, a division that’s 100% up for grabs this upcoming season.
The Colts secured an aging quarterback who’s battling father time, but still has some gas in the tank to give the organization a decent amount of optimism about their chances to make the playoffs this year. The Texans traded away a top 3 wide receiver in the league, in exchange for an aging running back with massive injury concerns, and have given their young franchise quarterback one more reason to want out. The Titans stuck with the approach of continuity, while filling other roster holes through the draft. The Jaguars are fully invested into the Minshew project, and are looking at nothing but another rebuild.
There’s a lot of intrigue with this division, but it doesn’t have the same sort of marketability its had in previous years.
Nevertheless, I’m here to break things down for you guys.
So sit back, and take some time to read.
Houston Texans
- Notable Free Agency signings: Randall Cobb, Bradley Roby, Vernon Hargreaves, Eric Murray
- Additions via trade: Brandon Cooks, David Johnson
- Notable additions via the draft: Ross Blacklock, Jonathan Greenard
- Notable Departures: DeAndre Hopkins(trade), D.J. Reader, Jonathan Joseph, Tashaun Gipson, Lamar Miller, Carlos Hyde
The Texans didn’t make headlines for who they added in the off-season, rather for who they subtracted from their roster. The team acquired David Johnson in a trade that sent DeAndre Hopkins to the desert. The trade was one of the dumbest trades we’ve seen in modern sports history, but if you’ve been reading along, you probably understand my feelings about it all.
Brandon Cooks was acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams, to somewhat soften the blow from Hopkins’s forced departure. Randall Cobb was also brought in, after he signed a 3 year $27M deal in free agency.
As for the defensive side of the ball, Vernon Hargreaves and Bradley Roby return to give the Texans some much needed help in the secondary. Ross Blacklock was drafted in the 2nd round of the NFL draft, bolstering the Texans’s front 7, which needed another difference maker and some insurance due to the injury concerns for both J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus.
Overall, unless the Texans pulled off a stunner of an off-season, the team’s plan was already set to be ridiculed due to the DeAndre Hopkins trade. 3 of the team’s top 4 wideouts have legit injury concerns, David Johnson will be the subject of criticism for every small mistake he makes, and the defense still needs some help at pass rusher.
Bill O’ Brien has made some questionable moves, but boy this off-season was an all time stinker.
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