2021 NFL Draft Guide: AFC South Coaching Schemes

Welcome to another installment of the 2021 Coaching Systems analysis. Before we start breaking down the AFC South, be sure to check out the Overview of Coaching Schemes so you have a reference point for any terminology with which you might be unfamiliar. Probably makes sense to bookmark it for easy referral since we’ll be doing every division. If you missed any of the ones we’ve done so far, here are links to check them out as well:

AFC East

AFC North

Now let’s move on the next one!

AFC South

Houston Texans

Offensive Breakdown: The situation in Houston has been nothing short of a nightmare during the offseason. You’ve got the infamous Jack Easterby calling the shots, his crony Nick Cesario entrenched as the new GM, the residual effects of the DeAndre Hopkins trade, the bitter departure of J.J. Watt and, of course, the Deshaun Watson situation. As bad as I believe this situation has gotten, the job here is to help you understand the offensive scheme and which players should excel, not pass judgment on how ownership is running this team into the ground. O.K. so there’s a bit of editorial from me. Sorry. Can’t help it.

The Texans brought in former Ravens passing game coordinator David Culley to serve as the new head coach. He’s a player’s coach who helped install the west coast style of short passes in Baltimore and really helped Lamar Jackson improve his throwing skills. But obviously, that’s only part of the offense, so in an effort to maintain some year-to-year consistency, Culley retained Tim Kelly as his offensive coordinator. Kelly happens to be very close with Watson and the belief was that keeping Kelly would not only help keep the structure of the offense intact, but also help Watson with all of the organizational changes. Unfortunately, we aren’t sure Watson is even going to play this year, so this offense could be led by TyRod Taylor. He’s somewhat mobile, but doesn’t have the arm strength or the football instincts Watson has, so it’s not going to be easy.

The scheme will maintain its roots in the spread offense Bill O’Brien ran here for years, but will incorporate a lot of the west coast quick, timing routes used to help move the chains. In addition to that, Culley hired James Campen as his offensive line coach, so you will see plenty of zone blocking schemes which will, hopefully help revitalize the ground game. The Texans have David Johnson from the Hopkins deal still, but also brought in Phillip Lindsay and Mark Ingram. They will try to use the run to help open things up more downfield as the defense will be spread thin should they start biting on play fakes.

You’ll still see a lot of pre-snap motion, a good amount of play-action and a lot of RPO work. The scheme is solid, but could definitely use some better personnel to bring it to life.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Deshaun Watson (if he plays), Phillip Lindsay, Brandin Cooks, Nico Collins

Defensive System: 4-3 base with a Cover-2 zone

Defensive Breakdown: If there’s one thing the Texans did right this offseason, it was bring in Lovie Smith to serve as an assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. He is well-respected by players and coaches alike, has a boatload of positive experience and will get the most out of his players every step of the way. The problem is, the personnel is lacking and while the scheme will be solid, carrying it out and getting the proper results will be tough.

Smith will use a 4-3 base but you can expect him to mix things up more as he loves to bring pressure on the quarterback and he loves to do it from a variety of angles. The tough part will be stopping the run because again, the scheme is sound, the personnel is not and for what Smith wants to do, there will be struggles which puts a lot of pressure on the secondary. Smith will bring the infamous “Tampa-2” coverage scheme which will limit the big plays they give up, but because they lack strong corners and linebackers for coverage, they are likely to get carved up underneath with the safeties playing back. 

Players Who Best Fit the System: Shaq Lawson, Zach Cunningham

Indianapolis Colts

Offensive Breakdown: While the Colts may have lost their offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni in the offseason, they really won’t miss a beat here. This is Frank Reich’s offense and he promoted QB Coach Marcus Brady to the role of coordinator as he is all too familiar with this scheme, but Reich will be the one to call the plays still. Reich likes a west coast base and in traditional west coast style, he likes to use the pass to set up the run. He has his offense get to the line quickly where they can get an initial read on the defense and then use verbal commands and pre-snap motion to figure out exactly what they want to do. In response to what the defensive reads are giving them. This requires a lot of heads-up work from the quarterback, so having someone who understands exactly what Reich wants/needs is paramount.

Reuniting with Carson Wentz gives Reich exactly what he needs. He knows the scheme, the language and he can also be mobile which will enable the Colts to utilize more RPO. He also has the arm strength to get the ball downfield in a hurry, something Philip Rivers struggled with last season. With the autonomy Reich gives his quarterback at the line, Wentz should have an easier time letting plays develop as the defense never quite knows where he’s going with the ball.

Though the offensive line lost Anthony Costanzo, they are still one of the better units in the game and a tethering of one TE in 12-personnel formations should help fortify. Offensive line coach Chris Strausser preaches aggressiveness to his players, so whether they pulling for the run or in pass-blocking mode, they take it to the defenders every chance they get which helps to open those running lanes.  

Players Who Best Fit the System: Carson Wentz, Jonathan Taylor, T.Y. Hilton

Defensive System: 4-3 with Cover-3 zone

Defensive Breakdown: Last season this was my favorite defense to use for fantasy and while they had a game or two that was less than desirable, overall, they were phenomenal. The addition of DeForest Buckner was huge in their efforts to not only stop the run, but to continuously generate a pass-rush off the line without using heavy blitz packages. Drafting Kwity Paye should only enhance that aspect and allow Darius Leonard to run amok and destroy runners and receivers alike.

They like to run the Cover-3 in the secondary which leaves the two safeties and one linebacker playing back as the corners handle the underneath routes. The safeties have more freedom to move around depending on the offensive play which affords them more opportunities to ball-hawk and create turnovers. With Xavier Rhodes, Kenny Moore and Rock Ya-Sin on the receivers, this defense should, once again, excel all over the place.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Darius Leonard, DeForest Buckner, Xavier Rhodes

Jacksonville Jaguars

Offensive Breakdown: This is going to be one of the more interesting offenses to watch this season. The Jaguars were lauded for bringing in Urban Meyer, yet he was criticized for who he surrounded himself with as assistants. Number one was offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Meyer is going to run a spread offense and utilize a lot of multi-receiver sets. The receivers are going to run routes in all sorts of different directions to spread out the defense and allow the middle of the field to open up more. He’ll use RPO and designed QB runs when the middle of the field opens up and attack that way. At least, that’s the general plan.

But Meyer doesn’t want to employ his usual pass-heavy scheme. He wants to establish the run and that’s where Bevell comes in. Anyone who has followed the NFL knows Bevell is a run-first coordinator who use the run to set up the west coast passing he prefers. It looks like Meyer is going to jell the two styles to bring a scheme closer to what he used to run at Ohio State when Ezekiel Elliott was his running back. So now we have a strong ground game, multi-receiver sets, RPO, QB runs and a short-passing game to move the chains. Clear as mud? Oh, but don’t forget the gimmicks like jet sweeps and TE-option passes (for all you Tim Tebow lovers out there).

This is going to be a lot to throw at Trevor Lawrence here in his rookie season, especially with this “throw it all against the wall and see what sticks” philosophy, but this is all just the first step in rebuilding the Jaguars. They have some talented personnel, a scheme to showcase plenty of it and we’ll just have to see how it goes moving forward.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, D.J. Chark

Defensive System: 3-4 base with multi-front looks and a mix of man and Cover-4 zone

Defensive Breakdown: Meyer brought in former Ravens defensive line coach Joe Cullen to revamp this unit and build it in the image of what we’ve watched the Ravens do over the past few seasons. He’ll establish a 3-4 base, but will offer a number of multi-front looks in an effort to get more out of his pass rushers. The flexibility will bring guys like Josh Allen and K’Lavon Chaisson onto the line which should free up Myles Jack and Josh Schobert to hang back in coverage at times.

The secondary personnel is good, but the Cover-3 zone they used to run saw them get destroyed by underneath routes. They’ll utilize Cover-4 the most, but expect some man and Covr-2 to be employed which adds a corner to the underneath coverage. Under the new system, given the personnel, this defense could be an intriguing one if everyone plays to their potential.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Josh Allen, K’Lavon Chaisson, Myles Jack

Tennessee Titans

Offensive Breakdown: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? That’s the plan in Tennessee even with former OC Arthur Smith now working in Atlanta. Head coach Mike Vrabel promoted TE coach Todd Downing and they are expected to run the exact same offensive system. It’s based in the west coast scheme where short, quick passing helps move the chains, but in this case, they are using the run to set up the pass. Derrick Henry will continue to work as a high-volume back and the Titans will ride him for all he’s worth. That will help set up play-action which will allow Ryan Tannehill to take his shots downfield. Adding Julio Jones to the receiving corps isn’t going to skew the offense towards more passing. It will just make coverage in the secondary more of a nightmare for defenses.

You’ll see plenty of RPO work which really seemed to help Tannehill in his development and Downing will also continue to lean heavily on 12-personnel formations which will feature the tight ends in a pass-catching role. Again, they are not inclined to re-invent the wheel as it’s all been working beautifully for them over these last three seasons, so draft your Titans as you normally would. Guys like Tannehill, Brown and Henry are costing high draft picks, but we’ve also seen they’re worth it in this system.

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

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

Defensive Breakdown: Rather than have Vrabel wear multiple coaching hats again, the Titans have promoted linebackers coach Shane Bowen to defensive coordinator. Not that anything is going to change as this defensive scheme has been tried and true for a few years now. Vrabel hired Dean Pees to install the defensive scheme and when he took over last year, Vrabel maintained the exact same scheme. Bowen is going to follow suit.

The defense will be based in the 3-4 but we’ll see plenty of multi-front looks as well, especially with Bud Dupree joining the linebacker corps this season. Bowen will reinforce the aggressiveness of his defenders and look to keep that turnover count nice and high. As for the secondary, one of their biggest weaknesses in recent seasons, the addition of Janoris Jenkins and drafting of Caleb Farley should allow them to freely move between man and zone coverage without giving up the big plays.

Players Who Best Fit the System: Bud Dupree, Janoris Jenkins, Caleb Farley, Jeffery Simmons