Off-Season Roundtable: Who is the Colts’ Biggest Threat in the AFC South?

The Colts off-season is still young and there are still plenty of questions that need to be addressed. Our crew of writers broke down the most pressing questions — presented by Andrew Aziz.

Roundtable members: Andrew Aziz, Jake Arthur, Faraz Majid, Stephen Reed

Question 3: Who is the Colts’ biggest threat in the AFC South?

Jake Arthur: This is a really tough one because, on paper, all four of these teams should be playoff-caliber if healthy. I’m going to go ahead and say that the Jaguars are the biggest threat, though. They are the reigning division champions and are a very good team that just lacks versatility on offense. They should have won the AFC Championship and gone to the Super Bowl this year, but they may have maxed out their resources.

They’ve gotten about as much out of Blake Bortles as they can. If they can find a quarterback that can rise to the occasion in big moments, they could become the best team in the NFL.

Faraz Majid: The Titans are the only non-threat in the division. Maybe Vrabel will change that, but I don’t trust him to. I expect the Texans are the biggest threat, unless the Jags sign/draft a quarterback this off-season, which will probably happen. Even still, Deshaun Watson is too special of a player not to be afraid of. He may need some time to get back to 100% but I believe he will get there and take care of the offensive side of the ball.

As for defense, well Vrabel is gone and Crennel is back. Crennel led this defense to a #1 finish in 2016 and #3 in 2015 (addition by subtraction?). Not to mention the fact Watt will be back (and finally healthy?) as well as Mercilus, with another year of experience for Clowney. This team still has a lot of flaws, but they also have a lot of toys that have been on the shelf this past year.

The Texans may be the #1 threat in the AFC South but overall this division is about to become a brutal battling ground for the Colts. If the Jags add a Kirk Cousins-type quarterback or better, then we got a legitimate Super Bowl contender in the division as well.

Andrew Aziz: While it might be easy to go with the Jaguars, I’m going to go with the Texans because I believe Deshaun Watson is going to be a phenomenal quarterback. With JJ Watt and Jadeveon Clowney on their defense, they’re going to be legit on both sides of the ball.

Until the Jaguars get an above average quarterback, they will not be the scariest team in the AFC South. What Watson did this past season as a rookie is not seen often. He pushed the Patriots and Seahawks the entire game and lost narrowly in both matches, mostly due to poor coaching. He also did that on the road.

So while the Jaguars might be the best team right now, especially after a close loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship, I believe the Texans will be the tougher team to beat moving forward because it seems like they’ll have a quarterback who can go tit-for-tat with Andrew Luck on a weekly basis.

Stephen Reed: This is low hanging fruit for me. The biggest threat is the Jaguars. That defense is fantastic and it’s young. If the Jags can get a moderately competent QB in free agency, they could legitimately compete for the Super Bowl for several years.

My guess is it’ll be the Colts and Jags battling it out for the division title for the foreseeable future. I’d also go out on a limb and predict the AFCS will be one of the toughest divisions in football within the next year or two.