2020 POTENTIAL BREAKOUT STARS: AFC SOUTH PART 1

BY ADAM GREENE

We turn our attention to the AFC South, a division already loaded with player talent as we pick our potential break out players for 2020.

HOUSTON TEXANS

Cornerback Gareon Conley

(2019: 50 tackles, one interception, 13 passes defended)

If you look at the history of Bill O’Brien trades with the Houston Texans, the record has not been kind. O’Brien has been out-dealt, manhandled and abused in pretty much every deal he’s made since being handed the personnel reigns after the team fired general manager Brian Gaine over a year ago.

With Gaine shot out the airlock, the Texans saw fit to hand head coach Bill O’Brien the general manager power, undeserved as he hadn’t even come close to mastering this whole “head coach” thing he’d been given after a stint calling the offense for the New England Patriots. O’Brien is, without question, one of the worst head coaches in the league, bolstered only by the talent of his roster and, thanks to injuries to Andrew Luck, the lack of talent in the rest of the division. With the rise of the Tennessee Titans in 2019, that façade has fallen. Sure, his quarterback (by my estimation) is the third best in the league, but the O’Brian stink permeates the team. Hopefully Houston Texans owner Janice McNair will see the light and set O’Brien free on an ice flow at the end of the season and hire a guy (or couple of people) that can actually coach and run the team at an NFL level.

That all being said, the Conley deal for the Texans was a good one. Made at the trade deadline, Houston nabbed Conley, a first round pick and starting NFL corner, from the then Oakland Raiders for a third-round pick. When you put the evidence together that O’Brien should be fired post haste (and there is plenty), the Conley trade won’t be in the file. It was a good deal for the Texans and one that may pay off this year and, hopefully, for a legitimate NFL head coach in the future. Do any of us, outside of fans of other AFC South teams, want to see Deshaun Watson hamstrung by O’Brien’s ineptitude over the next five seasons?

Conley had a solid season overall and his eight games with Houston in 2019 were a nice prediction of what’s to come. The Texans have seen fit to shed cornerbacks over recent years, A.J. Bouye being the highest profile. It’ll be good to see them actually develop and keep a CB1 in spite of O’Brien’s head coaching ineptitude.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

Wide Receiver Michael Pittman Jr.

(Rookie)

For the last few seasons Philip Rivers has made tossing the ball to big receivers like Pittman look almost too easy. In spite of the Los Angeles Chargers finishing with a losing record, Rivers put both his primary wideouts, Keenan Allen and Mike Williams over 1,000 yards in 2019.

Pittman, at 6-4 and 223 pounds, will present a similar target. With T.Y Hilton and Jack Doyle the only other experienced pass-catchers on Indy’s squad, not only should Pittman get tossed into action early, but he should see plenty of targets. He’s used to it as he caught 101 passes with USC last season for 1,275 yards and 11 touchdowns.

To be continued in Part 2.

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