Biggest remaining needs for each AFC team heading the 2023 NFL season

Houston Texans, AFC South – Swing tackle

With DeMeco Ryans coming back to Houston in order to run the show there, the big move in the draft to secure themselves cornerstone pieces on either side of the ball in quarterback C.J. Stroud (Ohio State) and edge defender Will Anderson Jr. (Alabama), the Texans have set the baseline for turning around the franchise.

C.J. Stroud #7 of the Houston Texans walks out of a team huddle during the first day of Houston Texans Rookie Minicamp at NRG Stadium

They’ve created a nice balance between veterans coming in and players they’ve drafted over the last couple of years. Before we see exactly how this shakes out and if the young guys can step up when called upon, I don’t believe any of their likely starting-22 is a definite minus. However, what I can identify as a potential issue is an injury to their book-ends on the offensive line in Laremy Tunsil and Tytus Howard.

Greg Little is a former big-time disappointment as an early second-round pick for the Panthers in 2019, who’s landed on IR each of the past three seasons, missing all of 2021, before seeing time on either end of the O-line for a tackle-desperate Dolphins team. Yet, he put up an abysmal PFF grade of just 35.1 on the year.

Meanwhile, Charlie Heck has been a pretty consistent backup option, with seven sacks and 40 total pressures surrendered across just under 700 career pass-blocking snaps, but he’s a minus in the run game and has never played a single snap anywhere but right tackle. Then last year’s sixth-rounder Austin Deculus didn’t get onto the field on offense once as a rookie.

Especially with more of a traditional pocket-passer in Stroud, making him comfortable at the top of his drop and not asking him to move sideways will be key to a solid debut campaign.

Indianapolis Colts, AFC South – Established offensive line depth

This is a unit that was supposed to be the biggest strength of the team in 2022, but turned out to be an absolute nightmare. This was due to a turnstile-like affair on the blindside for about half the year, an offensive system that lacked clarity on who they were and a general drop-off in quality of play even from accomplished veterans such as Quenton Nelson and Ryan Kelly.

Braden Smith at right tackle to me as the only constant. Bernhard Raimann they hope can take a significant step forward as their starting left tackle as a third-round pick from last year and right guard appears to be battled out between Danny Pinter, Will Fries and I believe even undrafted free agent Emil Ekiyor (Alabama) could be part of the competition (as somebody I had inside my top-100 overall prospects this past April).

No matter who starts there – even though it may not be as drastic to compensate for as one of the tackle spots, because you have those bumpers to either side of you, with condensed space to manage – it has the potential to be a legit weak link yet again. And even more so, you won’t have proven alternatives to veer towards.

That three-name pool will likely also be chosen from in case of an injury at the pivot and you might be looking at a developmental tackle project in Blake Freeland (who they made one of the first selections of day three in the draft this year) as your primary option in case of injury to either edge of the line.

Blake Freeland #71 of the Brigham Young Cougars blocks against the Arkansas Razorbacks

With his athletic gifts, this is not somebody you can actually hope will stick on the practice squad – yet I believe he has plenty to fix before surviving in the NFL. The outlook in case of any injury might not be very rosy.

Jacksonville Jaguars, AFC South – Flexible backup interior D-lineman

While Roy Robertson-Harris has been a high-impact performer anywhere between the tackle and guard for his career and really took over stretches of games late this past season, something I believe could be key for this Jacksonville defense is their duo of true defensive tackles in DaVon Hamilton and Folorunso Fatukasi.

In particular, I believe their interchangeability of lining up in the A- or B-gap and making those late shifts depending on facing motion and how key it could be for their ability to stop the run is something I’ll be tracking. With that being said, I’m interested in what will happen if they face teams that force them to stay in base personnel largely or how comfortable they are generally in rotating in the second-string pieces.

Adam Gotsis had three really strong outings last season for Denver as I look at his weekly grades by Pro Football Focus, but otherwise, that number was almost exclusively between 50 and 60. Michael Dogbe has less than 700 career snaps across his four years in Arizona – for good reason – with this past season being his worst yet.

Adam Gotsis #99 of the Denver Broncos celebrates after causing Sam Darnold #14 of the New York Jets to fumble

They did draft Tyler Lacy out of Oklahoma State in the fourth round, but to me, he’s basically an insurance policy for Robertson-Harris getting banged up or just needing some snaps off to stay fresh, as somebody who in college almost purely lined up between 4i- and 6-technique.

There’s really nothing to rely upon if one of their two starters on the interior goes down and that could force them into a pure even-front unit. Robertson-Harris is a true three-technique and you need to switch him and the nose shortly before the snap based on the offensive picture changing – or some other creative ways to utilize gap exchanges.

Tennessee Titans, AFC South – Z receiver

I could have easily gone backup linebacker here, since the Titans swapped out their duo on the second level defensively for two potential breakout players with extended playing time in Monty Rice and Azeez Al-Shaair. But they’re banking on Ben Niemann coming off his first season of any quality play to be a band-aid in case of injury, with nothing else behind it.

However, it’s more fun to talk about wide receivers here and dynamic play from that position is what this group is lacking the most right now. Last year’s first-round pick (and basically direct replacement for A.J. Brown) Treylon Burks showed in sparks that he can excel in similar ways, as a big-bodied vertical threat and run-after-catch specialist over the middle.

Treylon Burks #16 of the Tennessee Titans catches a touchdown over Marcus Epps #22 of the Philadelphia Eagles

They were able to bring back Nick Westbrook-Ikhine for another year at $1.25 million, as another guy who can win through contact and be an option as a big slot. Plus, I do like Kyle Phillips as more of a quick-footed separator underneath and who can win on more intricate routes, as somebody who was off to a promising start as a fifth-round pick before having his rookie season cut short by hamstring injuries.

He can play the Z to some degree but isn’t your typical off-set flanker that forces defenses to play somebody over the top in order to provide one-on-one opportunities on the backside. Nor is he someone you want to set up run-after-catch opportunities for as you motion him into stacks and provide free access on crossing routes for example.

They just don’t really have anybody on the roster in that mold and it makes it easier for defenses to box you into some degree, as you don’t attack all areas of the field.