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With the NFL Draft and the majority of offseason moves now complete, we took a look at the landscape of the AFC South to determine which position groups are primed to dominate the division in 2025.
In the coming weeks, the
Jacksonville Jaguars, along with the rest of the AFC South, will report to their respective training camp locations to put the final touches on their 2025 offseason. With the rosters, for the most part, set, we take a look at which AFCS divisional position group, on paper, looks to be the most dominant heading into the 2025 season.
Quarterback
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As much as many in Duval County would likely love to place Trevor Lawrence in this spot, if for no reason than recency bias, this has to go to
Texans QB CJ Stroud. While Stroud may be coming off of a 3,727-yard, 20 touchdown, 12-interception “sophomore year regression” after his electric rookie season, he still edges out Lawrence, who ended his second consecutive season on injured reserve. However, Stroud’s 2024 season was eerily similar to Lawrence’s 2023 (with Stroud’s 2023 rookie season mirroring Lawrence’s first year under Doug Pederson). The gap in play between the two quarterbacks may not be as wide as most believe, nationally.
Running back
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The
Indianapolis Colts run away with the beat running back position group category, led by All-Pro RB Jonathan Taylor coming off his 1,431 yard, 11 touchdown, 2024 season. Backing him up are Khalil Herbert and rookie DJ Giddens. The production they have found on the ground, despite being below league average in run blocking, is a testament to Taylor’s ability and their scheme. The Texans, Titans, and Jaguars have a much tighter race for second place in the division with their backfields of Joe Mixon, Nick Chubb, Dameon Pierce, and Woody Marks for Houston, Travis Etienne, Tank Bigsby, and Bhayshul Tuten for Jacksonville, or Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears for Tennessee.
Just a reminder: Jonathan Taylor was on fire to close out last season
Over his final 3 games:
173.3 rushing yards/game
5.5 YPC
2.0 TDs/game
30.3 fantasy points/game
It’s early, but JT at a late 2nd-round ADP? That’s a smash BUY.
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— Jacob Dunne (@AintDunneYet)
June 27, 2025
Tight end
At the barren fantasy football tight end position, this would seem to come down to Jaguars TE Brenton Strange and Colts rookie TE Tyler Warren. As much as Texans fans might argue that Dalton Schultz belongs in the conversation, his putting up just 532 yards and two touchdowns on 85 targets with an injured receiver room just doesn’t place him in the conversation. Strange, while backing up Evan Engram for much of the year, put up similar numbers (411 yards and two touchdowns on 53 attempts) while being an extremely dominant blocker.
The depth behind each of these players is currently a coin flip, with Hunter Long seemingly being the primary pass catching backup TE in Jacksonville and Mo Alie-Cox and Jelani Woods as additional options in Indianapolis. While there’s an argument to be made that Strange alone may be a better option than rookie season Tyler Warren, the argument for the overall core would seem to lean to the Colts. Sight unseen, in the NFL, Warren, even as a rookie, will likely be able to produce similarly to Strange while having known options as depth in case of injury.
Wide Receiver
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The wide receiver conversation is popcorn worthy in the AFC South, with the Houston Texan’s revamped core of Nico Collins, Jayden Higgins, Jaylin Noel, Tank Dell, and Christian Kirk making a splash. However, Brian Thomas Jr., Travis Hunter, and Dyami Brown would seem to be a group with less depth, but a higher ceiling. The Colts’ core of Michael Pittman Jr, Alec Pierce, Josh Downs, and Adonai Mitchell would also be creeping into the conversation; however, who is throwing them the ball and how accurate are they matters here, unfortunately.
With Lawrence and Stroud both having no lack of weapons in 2025, I lean toward going with the more explosive room at the top end, with BTJ, Travis Hunter, and Dyami Brown being schemed open by a known Liam Coen. Conversely, the Texans will similarily be running a new “Sean McVay-style” offense under former
Los Angeles Rams passing game coordinator Nick Caley. It will be Caley’s first season as an NFL offensive coordinator, versus Coen’s fourth calling plays. In other words, we have proof of concept with Coen and BTJ, with questions on the incoming Houston rookies and their OC.
Offensive Line
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With the Colts returning three of their five 2024 starters in LT Bernhard Raimann, LG Quenton Nelson, and RT Braden Smith, Indianapolis is in prime position to have above average to dominant play up front with very little turnover. Nelson led the way for this unit, with his 81.3 ProFootball Focus overall grade in 2024,
as discussed by ColtsWire.
Nelson ranked 15th among all guards in pass-blocking efficiency, and he was fourth in run-blocking grade. According to PFF’s tracking data, Jonathan Taylor averaged 4.8 yards per rush when running to Nelson’s direct left and 5.3 yards per rush when running to his direct right.
Second-year interior offensive linemen Matt Goncalves and Tanor Bortolini round out the group. With Goncalves moving from tackle to right guard after only practicing at guard in 2024, that will likely remain an early season question. Bortolini appeared in eight games with five starts in 2024, while Bortolini ranked 15th in pass-blocking efficiency and 22nd of all NFL centers in run-blocking, per PFF.
While the Jaguars also technically have three returning starters in RT Anton Harrison, LG Ezra Cleveland, and LT Walker Little, it would be a stretch to consider that unit “above average,” based on their 2024 film. The Titans have a reasonably solid argument on their future potential; however, the addition of Dan Moore and Kevin Zeitler may not be enough to lift a line that was below average in PFF run blocking, yards before contact, and run-block win rate in 2024. They are also hoping for improvement from JT Latham after flipping him from left to right tackle. Unfortunately, this second place OL was the best opportunity for a win for the
Tennessee Titans in today’s list of division-best position groups.
Defensive Line
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This may have been the most difficult category to judge due to the major strengths and weaknesses of multiple divisional teams at either the DE or DT spot. The Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars each have legitimate arguments to make to be top of the league duos at the edge position with Danielle Hunter (12 sacks) and Will Anderson Jr (11 sacks in 14 games) or Josh Hines-Allen (8 sacks in 16 games) and Travon Walker (10.5 sacks). However, both teams’ interior defensive line currently has serious questions on what improvement they will see of Tim Settle Jr, Folorunso Fatukasi, Sheldon Rankins, and Mario Edwards Jr in Houston and Arik Armstead, DaVon Hamilton, Maason Smith, and Jordan Jefferson in Jacksonville.
Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans have the opposite concern, with dominant defensive tackle play from All-Pro DT DeForest Buckner (6.5 sacks in 12 games) and
2022 Pro Bowl snub Nost Tackle Grover Stewart (3.5 sacks). However, Indianapolis’ edge play does not rise to the league leading level of Houston or Jacksonville, with Kwity Paye (8 sacks) and Laiatu Latu (4 sacks). The Titans, similarly, have dominant play from Jeffery Simmons (5 sacks in 16 games), with about league average or less performance from T’Vondre Sweat (1 sack) and Sebastian Joseph-Day (2.5 sacks).
The overall edge here has to go to Indianapolis, with Tim Settle Jr (5 sacks) and Mario Edwards Jr (3 sacks in 13 games) giving slightly less in the pass rush department than the Colts duo. Jacksonville’s leading pass rushing DTs, Arik Armstead (2 sacks) and Maason Smith (3 sacks in 11 games), will look to improve there under Anthony Campanile. The arrow will also likely be pointing up for Indianapolis with a new defensive scheme added to that dominant DT play. Close call, but I’m going with the two dominant interior D-linemen over the question marks with good edge play.
Linebacker
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With both the Jaguars and the Texans having subpar DT play in 2024, it makes this decision slightly more difficult to gauge at LB. If gauging potential, the arrow would likely go towards Jacksonville, with their shift of Arik Armstead inside likely raising the floor for their interior defensive line and linebacker unit. But, production matters, and the Texans core of Christian Harris, Azeez Al-Shaair, Henry To’oTo’o, and EJ Speed has shown the ability to wreck games even with average to below average DT play. To add, they will proceed in 2025 playing the same defensive scheme, led by Head Coach DeMeco Ryans. That makes this decision easier, as the Texans LB core gets the edge from me. Devin Lloyd, Foye Oluokon, Ventrell Miller, and Jack Kiser, playing in a new Anthony Campanile scheme, will have to prove they deserve this title on the field in 2025.
Cornerback
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After getting paid this offseason, Derek Stingley Jr (5 ints, 18 passes defensed) and sophomore CB Kamari Lassiter (3 ints, 10 passes defensed) round out this dominant Texans CB room. With many of the other AFC South defenses either working through injuries in 2024 or simply falling off the cliff, questions remain for many of the AFC South CB rooms not coached by DeMeco Ryans.
Colts CBs Kenny Moore and free agent addition Charvarius Ward are arguably top five CBs in the division, stabilizing that secondary. The Titans CB room of L’Jarius Sneed, Jarvis Brownlee Jr, and Roger McCreary is a pretty solid unit - if you assume that 2024 was a season of rehabilitation and injury. Otherwise, the question may exist of if we have seen the best of Sneed during his
Kansas City Chiefs days. Only time will tell there.
The Jaguars CB room, similar to the Titans,’ shares promise, but injuries in multiple seasons to Tyson Campbell add significant risk to this room. Healthy, Campbell may be one of the top two CBs in the division. But a healthy Tyson Campbell has only been seen once in his four-year career. With the addition of Jourdan Lewis, the team kicking Jarrian Jones outside, and the national conversation of how much CB Travis Hunter plays creates high potential volatility in this room. They could end 2025 as easily the best grouping, or end the year with the most holes remaining to fill.
Safeties
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The rich get richer as the versatile Texans’ safety core of Calen Bullock and Jalen Pitre moved off of Eric Murray while adding C.J. Gardner-Johnson and rookie Jaylen Reed. In what most consider a top five safety group in the league, AFC South offenses will likely have their hands full in 2025.
The Colts’ addition of Cam Bynum with Nick Cross will also likely pay dividends, especially with Gus Bradley no longer coordinating the defense in Indianapolis. For the Titans, the underrated Amani Hooker, Xavier Woods, and rookie Kevin Winston Jr could end up being a strong pairing eventually, but there’s no way to project that as the best in division pairing prior to seeing it on tape. Heading into the season, the Jaguars’ safety group is likely to be looked at as one of the worst in the division, with Eric Murray, Darnell Savage, rookie Caleb Ransaw, and Andrew ‘Dewey’ Wingard - who primarily plays on special teams, in past seasons.
Special Teams
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The Jaguars take this category with flying colors, rostering one of the league’s best (
and highest paid) punters in
Pro Bowler Logan Cooke, Pro Bowl Long Snapper Ross Matiscik, sophomore Kicker Cam Little, and returning Special Teams Coordinator Heath Farwell. Little, in his rookie season, was 27-29 on field goals with a long of 59 yards. While making 100% of his kicks inside 40 yards, he also was 5 of 6 from 50-plus. Jacksonville will, however, look to improve in the punt and kickoff return game where Indianapolis paces the division, as Anthony Gould averaged 29.4 yards per kick return and 9.5 per punt return.
Coaching
This one isn’t extremely difficult. The only correct answer is DeMeco Ryans. After winning the division in consecutive seasons and building up a dominant defense that is expected to again produce in 2025, his primary question is: did he hit with his offensive coordinator hire after moving on from Bobby Slowik? With the only divisional coaches not on a warm or hot seat in 2025 being Ryans and Liam Coen, this decision was easy.
AFC South Scoreboard
QB: Texans
RB: Colts
TE: Colts
WR: Jaguars
OL: Colts
DL: Colts
LB: Texans
CB: Texans
S: Texans
ST: Jaguars
Coaching: Texans
TLDR: Summary
Texans - 5
Colts - 4
Jaguars - 2
Titans - 0
The Texans ended up having the best position groups in three of the four categories on defense while carrying pretty big questions into the season offensively, primarily on the offensive line. The Colts are strongest within the trenches and at RB, while having questions at QB and at head coach. The Jaguars have strength at WR, TE, and special teams with wide-ranging questions elsewhere. The Titans, in general, are an enigma, with many significant questions across the roster, including at head coaching spot.
What say you, BigCatCountry? Did we hit it on the head? Where do you think we may have missed the mark? Let us know in the comments!
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