INDIANAPOLIS — The Houston Texans’ two-year run as the AFC South champions ended in 2025, displaced by the Jacksonville Jaguars’ turnaround from 4-13 to 13-4.
The Texans started 0-3, but finished 12-5, beat Pittsburgh in the wild card round (Houston’s first-ever road playoff win) and lost at New England in the divisional round.
Texans general manager Nick Caserio saluted the Jaguars earlier this week at the scouting combine.
“They’ve got a great program,” he said when asked about the Jaguars by the Times-Union. “What (coach) Liam (Coen), (general manager) James (Gladstone) and (executive vice president of football operations) Tony (Boselli) have done building them … going into the season, I thought they would be much improved and that came to fruition.”
The Texans and Jaguars split two games. The Jaguars won 17-10 win Week 3 and the Texans won 36-29 in Week 10 (19-point comeback).
“The Jaguars are tough, they’re physical, they play the right way, they’re well-coached and they’re disciplined,” Caserio said. “Anytime you win 13 games, it says a lot about where your program is. They earned the AFC South (title) with their performance.”
The Jaguars and Texans will enter this season as the overwhelming division favorites. Tennessee is rebuilding with new coach Robert Saleh and second-year quarterback Cam Ward and Indianapolis has to figure out its quarterback situation (Daniel Jones is scheduled to be a free agent on March 11).
“I think our division, overall, is going to probably be as competitive as any in the league,” Caserio said. “The Jaguars are the defending division champs, the Colts are a good team and Tennessee will be much improved. We have a lot of respect for Jacksonville and we understand the challenges and what it will take and that’s a good brand of football on a weekly basis to beat the Jaguars.”
Around the combine
1. Toledo’s standard: It was Toledo Rockets Day at the combine on Thursday, Feb. 26, because safety Emmanuel McNeil and cornerbacks Andre Fuller and Avery Smith all did the media rounds.
Three defensive backs from a mid-major program? Impressive stuff. The Rockets went 8-5 last year.
“We expect to be here,” Smith said. “It’s not like everybody looks at it as a crazy accomplishment. The standard for a Toledo (defensive back) is to go be great.”
Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell was a first-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024 and won the Super Bowl as a rookie.
2. Abney meets with Jaguars: Arizona State cornerback Keith Abney said he met with the Jaguars this week.
Abney (6-foot and 190 pounds) turned 21 on Jan. 11 and finished his Sun Devils career with six interceptions and 98 tackles in 34 games (26 starts). He was first-team All-Big 12 in 2025.
3. Canady well-traveled: Jacksonville native Jadon Canady is here at the combine after playing for two high schools (Fletcher and Sandalwood) and three colleges (Tulane, Ole Miss and Oregon).
Canady had two interceptions and 39 tackles for the Ducks last year. He has rebounded from a torn ACL sustained in October 2022 that forced him to redshirt at Ole Miss in 2023.
“At first, I asked, ‘Why me?’ because I was a kid who didn’t get hurt,” he said. “But after two months, I started to learn a lot from it and overcoming things in life.”
4. Titans start re-tool: New coaches mean new schemes and new players. The Titans started that project by reportedly agreeing to trade 24-year old defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat to the New York Jets for pass rusher Jermaine Johnson (ex of Florida State). The trade can’t become official until March 11.
Sweat was a second-round pick by the Titans in 2024 and had 85 tackles and three sacks in 29 games. He has two years remaining on his rookie contract.
Johnson, 27, was a first-round pick by the Jets in 2022, playing for Saleh. Johnson has 13 sacks in 47 games.
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Texans GM Nick Caserio on Jaguars: ‘They’ve got a great program’
Reporting by Ryan O’Halloran, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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