To welcome in the 2018 season, the Pro Football Office of Last Word on Sports will be breaking down every division in the league, position-by-position. Every team has a strength, and every team has a weakness and we go through the best and the rest of the 2018 AFC South Breakdown.
2018 AFC South Breakdown: The Defense
The Offense: 2018 AFC South Breakdown
Quarterback
The Best: Indianapolis Colts
The Rest: Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars
This prediction rests on quarterback Andrew Luck being healthy and fully recovered from his mysterious shoulder injury. When healthy, Luck is a top-10 quarterback, throwing for 19,078 yards and 132 touchdowns from 2012 to 2016. Even if he can’t play, Jacoby Brissett has proven a capable backup, throwing for 3,098 yards and 13 touchdowns in 15 starts last season, despite being traded to Indianapolis just one week prior to the start of the regular season.
The Houston Texans can challenge for the top spot in the division if Deshaun Watson can pick up where he left off in 2017. Watson set the world on fire as a rookie, throwing for 1,699 yards and 19 touchdowns in just seven games. Additionally, Watson ran for an additional 269 yards and two touchdowns before tearing his ACL in a practice session. There’s no guarantee that he’ll return to form following his ACL tear, especially since coaches now have NFL tape of Watson to evaluate.
Luck and Watson have higher ceilings, but Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota may have the highest floor of the group. The fourth-year passer has proven to be a solid, if unspectacular, passer throughout his two seasons. However, he’s the only healthy franchise quarterback in the division.
Blake Bortles is a bad quarterback who’s holding back arguably the most talented roster in football. In a division otherwise stacked with quarterbacks, Bortles is a black void.
Running Back
The Best: Jacksonville Jaguars
The Rest: Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts
2017 fourth overall pick Leonard Fournette was everything the Jaguars could have hoped for last season. Serving as the teams lead back, Fournette recorded 1,040 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 268 carries. He also added an additional 302 receiving yards and a touchdown through the air.
Fournette has fantastic talent, and his career is only getting started. The LSU product should only improve with time and put up even better numbers in 2018.
The Tennessee Titans duo of Derrick Henry and Dion Lewis are very close to dethroning Fournette and the Jaguars for the top spot. Serving as a thunder and lightning duo, Henry and Lewis are both great running backs who excel at doing opposite things. Henry is more of a traditional running back, a big, physical force capable of plowing over anyone. Lewis, meanwhile, is more of an electric scat back, capable of beating defenses in both the passing game and the run game.
However, both players have serious questions heading into 2018. Henry has never been the lead back before, and nobody knows if his production will decrease with the added workload. Lewis, meanwhile, has serious health concerns. Lewis has only played a full 16-game season one time, and might not be capable of doing it again.
The Texans and Colts are a distant third and fourth on the list. Lamar Miller is a fine running back, but he’s nothing special. Second-year running back Marlon Mack showed promise in his rookie year with Indianapolis, but there is no depth behind him. Journeyman Robert Turbin is currently set to see snaps should Mack go down.
Wide Receiver
The Best: Houston Texans
The Rest: Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars
DeAndre Hopkins alone gives the Houston Texans the top spot here. Hopkins is a top-five receiver in the league, an absolute freak of nature capable of catching every pass thrown in his general direction. He’s had some fantastic production over his career despite having a rotating series of terrible quarterbacks. If Deshaun Watson can stay healthy and play like 2017, this duo could be the best in the league.
Additionally, the Texans have former first-round pick Will Fuller. Fuller isn’t nearly as good at Hopkins, but he’s still a solid number two receiver. Again, his production should increase from past years now that he has a true franchise quarterback throwing him the ball.
T.Y. Hilton is something of a one-trick pony, but he does that one trick incredibly well. Hilton’s one of the best pure deep threats in the league. The loss of Donte Moncrief hurts, and the Colts will need to find someone to step up alongside Hilton.
The Titans receiver ranking comes down to how good second-year receiver Corey Davis is. Davis, the former fifth overall pick, spent the majority of his rookie season battling through injuries. His final numbers at the end of the year weren’t anything impressive, but he showed promise during the Titans 2017 playoff run. Davis recorded two touchdown grabs in the AFC Divisional Round against the New England Patriots and has reportedly looked good in training camp. If he can reach his potential, the Titans depth chart can challenge the Colts for second best.
Losing Allen Robinson hurts the Jaguars, but not as much as one might think. Jacksonville spent essentially the entire 2017 season without Robinson and still managed to make it all the way to the AFC Championship Game. Blake Bortles has shown strong chemistry with Marqis Lee, and Donte Moncrief should be a welcome addition to the receiving core.
Tight End
The Best: Tennessee Titans
The Rest: Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans
Delanie Walker is the best tight end in the division and is one of the most criminally underrated players in the entire NFL. Since joining the Titans in 2013, Walker has recorded 356 receptions for 4,156 yards and 26 touchdowns in 76 games. He’s a decent blocker and served as the teams top passing option for several seasons.
Joining Walker in the group of good tight ends in the Indianapolis Colts’ Jack Doyle. Doyle has established himself as a solid receiver over the past few seasons, serving as Andrew Luck and Jacoby Brissett’s safety blanket. Since 2016, Doyle has recorded 139 receptions for 1,274 yards and nine touchdowns.
The rest of the tight ends in the division are either high-upside, low-floor players or just journeymen. Jacksonville’s Austin Seferian-Jenkins and the Colts Eric Ebron both have considerable talent and could break out into good players. However, both have struggled with consistency, reliability, and overall production throughout their entire careers.
The Houston Texans are essentially doing without the tight end position. Ryan Griffin is the definition of a replaceable role player, as he doesn’t do anything particularly well or particularly bad. He’d be a good number two or three tight end, but he’s Houston’s best option.
Offensive Line
The Best: Tennessee Titans
The Rest: Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts
Not only is the Titans offensive line the best in the AFC South, it has a case to be the best in all of football. While Dallas Cowboys fans may argue that claim, nobody can argue that this is an absolutely stacked unit. From right to left, the Titans offensive line has no weakness. Each one of their starters is good at worst and elite at best. It must be nice to be Marcus Mariota.
The Jaguars line, while not the elite level of the Titans, is still a solid unit more than capable of doing its job. The unit as a whole is better at run blocking, but it’s still capable of giving Blake Bortles protection and time to throw. It’s not an elite unit, but it does its’ job.
The Houston Texans line is a tad below the Jaguars. Nobody along the line is an outward liability, but nobody is elite by any means. This is a working-class line, capable of doing exactly what it needs to do, but not much extra. With Deshaun Watson coming off injury, Houston probably wishes this unit was a little bit better.
In theory, the Colts offensive line has improved from its’ annual sieve state. Anthony Castonzo is a solid left tackle, and the Colts invested their first-round pick in guard Quenton Nelson. However, this line has been so terrible for so long, it’s hard to believe in any part of it until you actually see results. Terrible offensive line play is what led to the Andrew Luck shoulder debacle in the first place. For Luck’s sake, let’s hope Indianapolis can finally fix their line.
2018 AFC South Breakdown: The Defense
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
