2020 NFL Draft Guide: Coaching Systems -- AFC South

Let’s continue our coverage of each team’s coaching scheme.

If you didn’t catch the divisions already covered, just click the links below:

AFC East (this page also includes a glossary of offensive and defensive schemes)

AFC North

Moving on…

AFC South

Houston Texans

Offensive Breakdown: While Bill O’Brien will finally be relinquishing play-calling duties to his OC Tim Kelly, the system remains exactly the same as the day O’Brien came over from New England. It’s based in the Erhardt Perkins scheme, where they would like to lead with a power run, but O’Brien likes to use a spread offense where they’ll usually line up three or four-wide using a variety of sets and send them out to different parts of the field to stretch the defense as much as possible. That is a tactic which is supposed to help open up for bigger runs.

O’Brien prefers the 11-personnel set-up with his multi-wideout formations and pre-snap movement, but will go to 12-personnel to add the second TE like he has in the last two seasons when the offensive line was decimated by injuries and riddled with subpar talent. The hope is that they don’t have to this season and can run this scheme as it was originally intended.

Players Who Fit the System Best: Deshaun Watson , David Johnson , Brandin Cooks , Will Fuller

Defensive System: 3-4 with man and zone coverage

Defensive Breakdown: Anthony Weaver, the Texans defensive line coach, takes over for Romeo Crennel as the new DC, but is going to keep the base defense the same in the form of a 3-4 scheme with Brandon Dunn serving as the base nose-tackle. However, like Crennel did last year, you could see some switches to 4-3, especially if Ross Blacklock develops into the interior pass-rusher the Texans are hoping for after drafting him. Weaver is looking for some versatility from his front seven in an effort to generate a better overall pass-rush and not be solely reliant on J.J. Watt and Whitney Mecilus.

As for the secondary, the unit thrived in man-coverage last season but often struggled in zone coverage. They brought back cornerback Bradley Roby to play opposite Gareon Conley and replaced a few of their defensive backs with guys who are stronger inside a zone, i.e. Eric Murray . Expect them to stay in man-coverage, a.k.a Cover-1, for the most part until the unit jells more following this virtual camp everyone is in.

Players Who Fit the System Best: J.J. Watt , Whitney Mercilus , Bradley Roby

Indianapolis Colts

Offensive Breakdown: With the addition of Philip Rivers , head coach Frank Reich and his OC Nick Sirianni can go right back to what the offensive scheme was meant to be before Andrew Luck screwed them over with his retirement. Now here in their third season with the Colts, Reich and Sirianni, both of whom worked together back when the Chargers were in San Diego, have very similar coaching philosophies and we saw them blend very well together in 2018. Expect them to stay the course as we are back to looking at the version of the West Coast offense we saw back when they were with the Chargers; the days when Rivers was their quarterback. They’ll lead with the run and their new tandem of Jonathan Taylor and Marlon Mack , but if the scheme is what we saw back in San Diego, they’ll run maybe 40-percent of the time.

On the passing front, the mid-range passing game will be the primary type of passing play we can expect to see. This would involve routes such as hitches, ins and outs, and slants and T.Y. Hilton will be the primary target. They brought in Michael Pittman who can play a strong vertical game and, of course, still have Zach Pascal and Parris Campbell to mix in for three and four-receiver sets. You can also expect to see a lot of 12-personnel packages with Trey Burton joining Jack Doyle . Can Burton be that red-zone threat Eric Ebron became? We’ll see. One of them should be.

Players Who Fit the System Best: Philip Rivers , Marlon Mack , T.Y. Hilton , Jack Doyle

Defensive System: 4-3 with zone coverage

Defensive Breakdown: It’s taken two and a half years to put the pieces together, but DC Matt Eberflus is officially excited about his defensive personnel and how it fits into his scheme. The Colts traded for interior lineman DeForest Buckner who will not line up next to Justin Houston and in front of Darius Leonard . That’s just downright vicious. In the secondary, they lost Pierre Desir , but Rock Ya-Sin and Kenny Moore are more than capable of dominating in coverage. Malik Hooker continues to patrol the middle and fantasy owners should definitely be giving this defensive unit a look this season.

Players Who Fit the System Best: Justin Houston , DeForest Buckner , Darius Leonard , Rock Ya-Sin, Malik Hooker

Jacksonville Jaguars

Offensive Breakdown: After a miserable departure from Washington that aired all sorts of dirty laundry, Jay Gruden leaves behind the head coach title and takes over in Jacksonville as the new OC. It was always his offense installed in Washington so we can look to what they’ve run over the last six years and how it’s evolved.

Gruden’s West Coast offense relies on a power-run and quick, short passes over the middle which will hopefully set up bigger outside runs and longer passes downfield on the outside. He loves using pre-snap motion with his tight ends (lots of 12-personnel formations) which usually allows him to handle the defensive coverage better while adding another pass-catcher to come off the line where necessary. It’s a complex scheme with a lot of extra routes that requires the quarterback to make a lot of reads, so the development of Gardner Minshew is going to have to be very closely monitored.

A key for this offense to really open up is the speed of the receivers. Leonard Fournette will be leaned on heavily, but having D.J. Chark and Chris Conley should be extremely effective in spreading the defense. Dede Westbrook is likely to spend most of his time working out of the slot and should be a nice speed mismatch for opposing linebackers. While the team brought in Tyler Eifert , don’t sleep on Josh Oliver. He may be quiet in the beginning as Eifert sees targets, but his role should develop once Eifert finds his way back home in the blue tent.  

Players Who Fit the System Best: Leonard Fournette , D.J. Chark

Defensive System: 4-3 with a Cover-3 Zone

Defensive Breakdown: While the Jaguars continue to rebuild the quality and depth of its defensive personnel, Todd Wash is expected to continue down the same path he has over the last four years in an attempt to return this defense to its status of one of the top units in the league. The team needs to work things out with Yannick Ngakoue , who could actually be traded by the time you are reading this, but if he remains, he and rookie Josh Allen are strong assets on the outside. Both have the speed to be effective pass-rushers and run-stoppers.

The secondary is still a bit green, especially with rookie C.J. Henderson slated for a starting role, but there is good depth with Rashaan Melvin and D.J. Hayden . The scheme is strong and if everything breaks right, this could be a bit of a sleeper unit for fantasy.

Players Who Fit the System Best: Josh Allen , Myles Jack , C.J. Henderson

Tennessee Titans

Offensive Breakdown: The Mike Shanahan coaching tree continues to blossom as Titans OC Arthur Smith, who worked under current Packers head coach Matt Lafleur, who worked under current Rams head coach Sean McVay, who served as Shanahan’s TE coach in Washington, runs  a very similar West Coast offense which features a heavy lean on the run, particularly outside (wide) zone runs. It’s what you see Gary Kubiak doing in Minnesota and now Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland. The ground game is vital in its set-up of the passing game which features a lot of short, high-percentage passes to help move the chains. Successfully executing this eventually opens up the deep passes downfield.

The scheme is no different this year than last year, but Smith has said he needs/wants to improve the passing game so not to be forced into giving Derrick Henry 300-plus carries again. Once Ryan Tannehill took over, the passing game began to take off and the former Dolphin was one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the league. Smith has yet to say exactly what he intends to do but it won’t involve altering the scheme or game plan. You may see larger route trees for some receivers and you may see addition spread formations, but that will also depend on the personnel. A.J. Brown and Jonnu Smith   are staples in the attack, but the team is going to need more from the likes of Corey Davis and other supporting cast members.

Players Who Fit the System Best: Ryan Tannehill , Derrick Henry , A.J. Brown, Jonnu Smith

Defensive System: 3-4 with a mix of man and zone coverage

Defensive Breakdown: Veteran DC Dean Pees has retired, but rather than bring in a new coordinator, head coach Mike Vrabel says he is going to consider the defense a group effort but with him calling the plays. The system is one Vrabel took from his days with the Patriots, installed it in Houston and now here in Tennessee, so it’s not like he doesn’t know the ins-and-outs. He did hire another veteran coach and former coordinator Jim Haslett who will officially serve as the linebackers coach, but you can bet he is doing plenty of work keeping a watchful eye over the various assistants.

The base is 3-4, but you can also expect some multi-front looks as Vrabel likes to see his linebackers moved around in creative schemes that help free up his pass-rushers. Strong blitzing will be in full-effect.

As for the coverage, you can expect a mix of both zone and man-coverage, depending on the speed of the receivers the team is facing. Adoree Jackson is solid in either scheme, but Malcolm Butler lacks the speed to stay with some of the faster wideouts. The safeties may have to float a little more to his side, but we should also see plenty of nickel and dime packages as the team brought in corners like Jonathan Joseph and Tye Smith to help out.

Players Who Fit the System Best: Harold Landry , Vic Beasley , Adoree’ Jackson, Kenny Vaccaro