Jaguars
SI.com’s John Shipley did an offseason mailbag answering questions about the Jaguars’ plans for the draft, free agency, and more.
- Starting with right guard, Shipley thinks they could target someone in free agency because of the lack of current options on the roster.
- Shipley names Buccaneers OL Ben Bredeson as a starting-caliber option in free agency but wouldn’t rule out a draft pick as well.
- As of now, Shipley feels Michigan DT Mason Graham is the “more likely” option for Jacksonville at No. 5 overall in the draft.
- Shipley is adamant the Jaguars will add pass rush help saying “it made zero sense” they didn’t address the last few offseasons.
- If Graham or Michigan CB Will Johnson is not available for Jacksonville in the first round, Shipley likes LSU OL Will Campbell to play right guard.
- Per Jonathan Jones, the Jaguars are hiring former Raiders assistant Fred Walker as an offensive assistant.
Texans
The Texans hired Nick Caley as their new offensive coordinator after moving on from Bobby Slowik. Houston HC DeMeco Ryans called it a difficult decision to move on from Slowik, yet anonymous sources close to the team said that Slowik’s predictability and lack of adjustments stalled out the team’s offense at times during the season.
“I feel really strong in my conviction that [Caley] can lead us and get us over the hump,” Ryans said, via DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN. “It’s my job to take this organization to new heights, and I think hiring Nick will help us to get there.”
“I am really excited to evolve this scheme,” Caley commented after being hired. “It’s not going to be my spin, it’s going to be what’s best for our players. We aren’t pounding a square peg into a round hole.”
“It was very hard to let Bobby go,” Ryans added on the firing of Slowik. “Bobby’s a really close friend, as you all know, Bobby’s a great friend of mine. Nothing but love and admiration for Bobby and what he’s done. When I got into coaching, Bobby was the one to help me figure it all out.”
Ryans asked several players on the team about their opinions when it came to Slowik and did not receive many positive endorsements.
“We simply weren’t good enough offensively,” a team source told ESPN. “We had all season to make adjustments and improvements, and it never happened.”
“When teams would take away what we wanted to do, we didn’t have answers for it,” one player anonymously told ESPN. “I don’t think we had a true identity of what the f— we wanted to do.”
Titans
Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker believes that GM Mike Borgonzi and the rest of his staff are walking into a great situation with the opportunity to turn the team around.
“What more would you want than to be able to come into a situation where there’s a lot of holes on the roster and you get the opportunity to flip a roster and make the No. 1 pick,” Brinker said, via ESPN. “As a general manager, that’s exactly what you want.”
It appears that the team will likely shift their focus towards drafting their next quarterback. According to Borgonzi’s comments, Titans QB Will Levis doesn’t seem to be part of their long-term plans.
“You have to have a strategy,” Borgonzi told ESPN when talking about sorting through their approach to both free agency and the draft. “Is there a guy we can take and play right away or do we have to bridge it and develop him? Those are the ongoing discussions we’re going to have here in the next few months.”
Titans HC Brian Callahan didn’t mince words when he said the team’s right side of the offensive line was putrid in pass protection last season.
“We need to get a right tackle,” Callahan said. “I would say you’re probably going to for sure see a new right tackle in some shape or form, you might see a few. We are going to have to add more players up front … from right guard and right tackle. We’re going to have to find ways to keep improving.“
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