Inside AFC South: Most Improved Players

After the unusual NFL offseason without any practices at team facilities due to the Coronavirus pandemic, players have a tighter time frame to prove their worth in training camp before the regular season.

It’s imperative that younger players make a statement in camp, and here’s who looks the most improved for the respective AFC South Division teams.

Houston Texans

Mike Fisher, Texans Daily

It's far too early in the young career of quarterback Deshaun Watson to take him for granted ... so let's not.

Watson's continued mastery of the Texans offense is ongoing and impressive. But there is something going on here in Texas that extends beyond X's and O's.

"It's about trying to win a Super Bowl,'' Watson, 24, said this week from Texans training camp. "That's my priority. I'm trying to pull a 'Big 3': I won a state championship in high school. I won a national championship in high school.

"So of course I'm trying to get to a Super Bowl. I'm trying to be legendary.''

And the fascinating thing about Watson's approach here - indeed, his approach in every quote he's offered to the media along these lines in recent days - balances beautifully what every team wants in a leader.

He's bold without bragging.

He's confident without conceit.

He's gifted ... and not just with the gift of gab.

A couple of years ago, young Watson appeared in Dallas at a Habitat For Humanity function ... and I was in attendance. His presentation seemed off-the-cuff, off-the-top-of-his-head - and it was stunning and moving as he talked about overcoming obstacles growing up. He seemed, to me, even at, what, 21? ... a person able to lead a room.

Just like he leads a team.

The achievements in that area are notable. A summer youth reading program in Houston. A book authored by the QB called “Pass It On.” A push for the NFL, via a players video, that moved the league to further its civil-rights efforts. Involvement in a campaign to remove the name of a pro-slavery benefactor from the honors college at Clemson.

He can throw and he can run and he'll get better at those things. But Deshaun Watson's growing presence as THE leader? That's bigger than X's and O’s.

Indianapolis Colts

Phillip B. Wilson, AllColts

It’s just four days of padded practices, but third-year defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis has impressed coaches with his interior play. At the risk of saying this is a surprise, Lewis entered the NFL as a 2018 second-round pick, but has been unable to stay healthy.

The defensive tackle/end has as many total tackles (15) as games missed due to injuries in two seasons. He sat out the first eight games as a rookie with a toe injury. Last season, he missed seven games with a lingering ankle issue.

Fast forward to this week, when in Monday’s first padded practice Lewis beat two-time All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson on two inside power moves. Yeah, that qualifies as raising eyebrows.

Head coach Frank Reich and defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus agreed on Zoom video calls that Lewis has been impressive in playing strong and fast. Reich said Lewis looks like a motivated player with something to prove.

Lewis said he did a lot of soul-searching in the offseason, and as a result, improved his training and nutrition, but also worked on his mental approach to the game. It wasn’t enough to just return in peak physical condition, Lewis saw the need to be mentally confident in becoming the player expected.

Thought to be on the roster bubble at the start of camp, Lewis looks like a versatile player who will not only keep his spot but earn snaps at tackle or end. Again, it’s early yet, but Lewis looks like the Colts’ most-improved player.

Jacksonville Jaguars

John Shipley, JaguarReport

If the Jaguars needed any player who wasn't named Gardner Minshew II to improve over the course of the offseason and the start of training camp, it is left tackle Cam Robinson.

Luckily for the Jaguars, it's so far, so good for the fourth-year offensive tackle.

The Jags traded their second-round (35th) and sixth-round (187th) picks to the Seahawks to select Robinson with the No. 34 overall pick in the second round of the 2017 NFL draft, but the Jaguars are still unsure years later if they have a franchise left tackle. Robinson played a big role in Jacksonville's run to the AFC Championship in 2017, starting 15 games at left tackle and helping pave the way for what was one of the league's best rushing attacks and red-zone offenses. Since then, Robinson has dealt with a season-ending ACL injury in 2018 and an uneven season in 2019, in large part due to his injury the year before.

But so far in camp, Robinson simply looks different. He looks to be in better shape than he was last season, and his footwork, athleticism, and overall technique all look to have improved as well. He has dominated defenders as a run blocker and, so far, has not been a slouch in pass protection. He has even heard the praise of head coach Doug Marrone, who noted some aspects of Robinson's game are the best since he has been drafted.

Jacksonville has had questions along the offensive line all offseason, but Robinson improving has always been the ultimate question mark. With Robinson entering a contract year the same year the Jaguars are rolling with Minshew as their starting quarterback, it was now-or-never time when it came to finding out what role Robinson would play in the future. While that answer won't be known until the bullets fly on game days, so far there's been more than encouraging signs.

Tennessee Titans

David Boclair, AllTitans

It took a while for Rashard Davis to get his shot. An undrafted wide receiver/return man out of James Madison, he was waived eight times by three teams over three seasons before he finally made his NFL debut with the Tennessee Titans in the 2019 regular-season finale.

There is a good chance that the league has not seen the last of him.

At 5-foot-9, 175 pounds, Davis is easily overlooked, yet teammates and coaches consistently singled him out as someone who made an impression throughout the offseason with his work ethic and his attention to detail in the virtual meetings. At the start of training camp, Vrabel named Davis one of the team’s Offseason Players of the Year, a distinction that comes with – among other things – a preferred spot in the players’ parking lot.

They also remember what he did when he got his chance to play. Davis’ lone reception in the season-ending victory at Houston was a contested catch on third-and-10 that gained 16 yards. He also returned two punts for nine yards. That earned him additional opportunities in the first two playoff games.

Davis got his shot only after Cameron Batson and Kalif Raymond were injured, and he will have to outperform one or both in training camp if he is going to survive the cuts. This is – by far – his best chance to make a Week 1 roster because he continues to get better as he goes.

(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)

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