The staff at Last Word On Sports are releasing division-by-division breakdowns throughout the month. The AFC South is chock full of young talent just waiting to break out and a healthy mix of underrated veterans. Which team has the best of the best in a competitive division?
After taking a look at the best within the division for the offense, let’s take a gander at the defensive side of the ball.
2023 AFC South Defense Positional Breakdown
Interior Defensive Line
Winner: Tennessee Titans
Place: Indianapolis Colts
Show: Houston Texans
The superstar wattage of Jeffery Simmons simply made the case for the Titans to beat out the Colts duo. Indianapolis boasts a powerful duet of DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart but their backups are inconsistent or unproven. In addition to Simmons being the best defensive tackle in the division, they have the underrated Teair Tart alongside him. Tennessee’s development program has been notorious over the past several seasons for finding and developing competent IDL assets. This factor also played a role in vaulting them over the Colts and Texans.
Houston and Jacksonville don’t have the depth nor the star power on the interior to compete with their brethren. The Texans have better assets like Maliek Collins and Sheldon Rankins compared to the Jaguars.
EDGE / Outside Linebacker
Winner: Tennessee Titans
Place: Jacksonville Jaguars
Show: Indianapolis Colts
Tennessee far outclasses the rest of the division with its bevy of pass rushers. They can deploy athletes like Harold Landry, Arden Key, Trevis Gipson and Denico Autry without breaking a sweat. The Titans do have a masterful development program as well, which is good news for young guns like Jayden Peevy and Caleb Murphy. The Jaguars do have former first-round selections Josh Allen, K’Lavon Chaisson, and Travon Walker to seal second place. They have the pedigree but the production hasn’t been there consistently. Indianapolis does have some intriguing pieces like Kwity Paye and Samson Ebukam, which helps them beat out the Texans for now.
It’s not like the Texans are bereft but they are mostly theoretical talents like Will Anderson, Jr. and Christian Harris. Veterans Jerry Hughes and Jonathan Greenard anchor their perimeter.
Inside Linebacker
Winner: Jacksonville Jaguars
Place: Indianapolis Colts
Show: Tennessee Titans
Jacksonville leads the division in this category with young and emerging stars like Devin Lloyd and Foyesade Oluokun. The Jaguars’ backups are the most capable in the division as well with three capable backups in Chad Muma, and Shaq Quarterman. These two factors helped them win out over the Colts and the Titans. While the Colts do employ the talented Shaquille (formerly Darius), Leonard, is an aging warhorse with an injury history, which knocked them down a peg.
Tennessee’s inside linebacker group is relatively unproven with two new starters in Azeez Al-Shaair and Jack Gibbens. The backups in Nashville are unknown commodities as well. They beat out the Texans for third due to the sheer amount of bodies at the position.
Cornerback
Winner: Houston Texans
Place: Tennessee Titans
Show: Jacksonville Jaguars
Cornerback was a close run contest between the Titans and eternal nemesis Houston. While the Texans have the star power in numbers, Tennessee has a solid mix of untapped potential and proven talent. Houston has the young star in Derek Stingley, Jr. and a wily old veteran in Steven Nelson as their top two. Cam Dantzler is a solid young CB3 as well.
The Titans have a bonafide CB1 in Kristian Fulton but he is oft-injured. Sean Murphy-Bunting was a solid addition this offseason to bolster the depth chart. While Elijah Molden is listed as a corner, he converted to safety over the offseason and has stood out there. Roger McCreary is an ascending player who took his lumps like any rookie corner. Tennessee has this innate ability to plug and play any defensive back with very little dropoff so that factored into the rankings.
Jacksonville beats out Indianapolis for third place due to having more depth and proven talents like Tyson Campbell and Darious Williams. Indy has a lot of potential in their youthful cornerback group featuring a Senior Bowl standout in Julius Brents. Check back next season if the rankings have changed with their group.
Safety
Winner: Tennessee Titans
Place: Indianapolis Colts
Show: Jacksonville Jaguars
Tennessee takes the cake and eats it too with the top safety duo in the division. Kevin Byard is easily the best safety in the AFC South. While his safety partner, Amani Hooker is an underrated player in his own right. As talented as the Titans safety duet is, their depth is a little lacking. Indianapolis wins second place due to the young depth they possess over Jacksonville’s starting combo. The Colts’ strong depth comes at the strong safety position with three young guns in Julian Blackmon, Nick Cross, and Ronnie Harrison all vying for reps. Their free safety is Rodney Thomas, who is the glue guy in their secondary.
Jacksonville’s top three of Andre Cisco, Rayshawn Jenkins, and Andrew Wingard are no slouches but Indy’s depth won out. Jenkins is an underrated piece from the Chargers. Cisco is another dude who has thrived in Jacksonville. Unfortunately for Houston, they bring up the rear but do have Jalen Pitre who struggled as a rookie but succeded towards the end of 2022. Jimmie Ward is another talented safety who was brought over by new HC DeMeco Ryans from San Francisco. It’s possible that Houston’s top two could supersede second place relatively quickly under Ryans’s stewardship.
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Main Photo: Corey Perrine/USA TODAY NETWORK
