What a turnaround. In 2022, the AFC South featured one playoff team that had to win its final five games to win a division title. Meanwhile, each of the other three clubs (including Mike Vrabel's Tennessee Titans) lost at least 10 contests, and two of those teams closed the season with seven-game losing streaks.
On to 2023 where the Houston Texans pulled off one of the great turnarounds in recent memory (3-13-1 in 2022) and won its first division title since 2019 with a 10-7 record. The Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars also posted winning seasons but came short of a postseason invitation.
The Tennessee Titans finished in the basement with a 6-11 mark which meant it was time to change some things up. There’s a new head coach in Brian Callahan, the former offensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals. He and general manager Ran Carthon have a lot of work ahead of them, especially after finishing with a 1-5 divisional record this past season.
Carthon added a number of standout players this offseason, signing wide receiver Calvin Ridley away from Jacksonville and dealing for Chiefs’ cornerback L’Jarius Sneed. Meanwhile, the Texans and Jaguars also did plenty of work adding veteran performers ahead of this month’s draft.
Before making your way down the list, it’s worth noting that no members of the Indianapolis Colts among the five players. General manager Chris Ballard was busy re-signing his own unrestricted free agents. There were 13 performers, and the Colts brought back nine of those players, Indianapolis will obviously be relying on April's draft.
As for now, here are five standout performers that Callahan and his staff will be facing regularly this upcoming season.