AFC South Predictions, Odds: Will the Jaguars Repeat Last Year’s Success?

The 2023 NFL season is finally upon us. Rather than offer one giant preview of the entire season, we’ll be looking at the league division by division. We continue with the AFC South. This is a division that often gets overlooked in the larger football conversation. This new season suggests that the winds are changing in the south, with maybe a new team ready to be the best of the bunch.

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AFC South Preview

Houston Texans

Along with the Chicago Bears, the Houston Texans were one of the worst teams in the NFL last year. The Deshaun Watson and Bill O’Brien days weren’t all that long ago, but it certainly feels as if they were. The franchise went through a major overhaul this past offseason, both on the field and on the sideline.

It starts with the drafting of C.J. Stroud at quarterback in the first round. The Ohio State product hopes to be the spark that leads to a new era of success in the heart of Texas. Furthermore, the club hired DeMeco Ryans as its head coach. A former Texan himself, he spent the last few seasons as San Francisco’s defensive coordinator. The wide receiver group was among the weakest in the league in 2022, so they brought in TE Dalton Schultz from Dallas and WR Robert Woods from Tennessee. Paving the road to success can take time, and it’s premature to assume that all these changes will pay immediate dividends, but there’s no question that Houston has made serious decisions to try and improve itself.

Texans Record Prediction: 5-12

Indianapolis Colts

Frankly, the Colts weren’t much better than the Texans in 2022. The Matt Ryan experiment was an unmitigated disaster, ultimately leading to Indianapolis drafting a quarterback high this past spring. Anthony Richardson from Florida is now under centre and the Colts faithful hope he’ll keep WR Michael Pittman Jr. happy with plenty of connections.

The other big question in Indy is the relationship between star running back Jonathan Taylor and the club’s management. Getting a deal done has been a massive headache, with the current RB market not doing Taylor any favours. The player has expressed his lack of desire to be a Colt going forward although the franchise brass keeps thinking the bridge can be mended. This is turning out to be either an acrimonious separation or it’s the leadup to a very awkward makeup. Tackle Deforest Buckner continues to lead the defence.

Colts Record Prediction: 6-11

Jacksonville Jaguars

Jacksonville enters a new season with high aspirations for the first time since the 2018 Sacksonville Jaguars. That didn’t turn out so well. It remains to be seen if the Jaguars can replicate their late-season success. Trevor Lawrence seemed to come into his own as the regular season campaign progressed. What’s more, his team’s win in the Wild Card round was a microcosm of their entire year: a bad start but a good finish.

RB Travis Etienne Jr.’s first year in the league was largely successful as he scampered for over one thousand yards and scored five touchdowns. The receiving corps doesn’t feature big names (Zay Jones, Christian Kirk), but TE Evan Engram is always a dependable target. Speaking of targets, the club will be operating with one on its back. Winning a division is fun, especially when it happens so unexpectedly. But now rivals have plenty of tape to study and can plan for what’s coming.

Jaguars Record Prediction: 10-7

Tennessee Titans

Remember the Titans? Remember when they won the AFC South two years in a row but were “one and done” both times in the postseason? That reality was blown into oblivion in 2022 when a 7-3 start devolved into a 7-10 finish.

Granted, the team was decimated by injuries. Joshua Dobbs (now in Arizona) started a must-win Thursday night game against the Cowboys late in the season and it was his first game in over a year. That’s just how bizarre and awful the last two months of 2022 were. There’s always a chance with Derrick Henry at running back, and the team signed WR DeAndre Hopkins from the Cardinals. How much juice is left in his tank? We’re about to find out, but one reckons that a Hopkins who is 75 per cent of his former self is still a useful weapon to have around.

Titans Record Prediction: 10-7