{"id":887336,"date":"2026-05-10T09:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T09:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/887336\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T09:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T09:09:22","slug":"afc-notes-josh-downs-carnell-tate-colts-texans-titans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/887336\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC Notes: Josh Downs, Carnell Tate, Colts, Texans, Titans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colts WR Josh Downs<\/a> said he\u2019s excited about the head-to-head matchup with his brother this year when the Colts play rookie DB Caleb Downs and the Cowboys.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told\u00a0me if he goes\u00a0to the Cowboys, he\u2019s playing nickel,\u201d Downs said, via PFT<\/a>. \u201cSo, that\u2019s like head-to-head all game. I was like, \u2018that\u2019s interesting.\u2019 So then he got drafted, I was like \u2018you know we play next year\u2019 and he got all hyped. It\u2019s all fun and games, but you know I gotta let him know he\u2019s the little brother in the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texans signed some sizable extensions this offseason to DE Will Anderson<\/a> Jr. and LB Azeez Al-Shaair<\/a>. Mike Sando of The Athletic<\/a> cites one anonymous executive who mentions that Houston does things their own way and doesn\u2019t buy into public perception.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHouston doesn\u2019t care about anything,\u201d one executive said. \u201cIf you look even at their extensions, they don\u2019t just set the market. They set the market. They are not really taking their time or being patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houston traded up to take both of their top two selections in G Keylan Rutledge at No. 26 and DT Kayden McDonald at No. 26. Another executive praised how GM Nick Caserio maneuvered around.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Houston did a really good job of maneuvering the draft board,\u201d the exec said. \u201cNick Caserio had a real good feel for how this thing was gonna play out in the way he moved. The consensus among teams I talked to was that Rutledge was really highly thought of, and I think Kayden McDonald was coveted by other teams as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

One executive called Rutledge one of his favorite interior linemen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI love what they did in the trenches,\u201d the exec said. \u201cRutledge is great. He is one of my favorite interior guys in the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Titans selected WR Carnell Tate with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Mike Sando of The Athletic<\/a> cites an anonymous executive who is confident that Tate will be someone who earns a second contract and has fewer injury concerns than the Saints\u2019 first-round WR Jordyn Tyson.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere is a guy (Tate) that is never going to screw up,\u201d the executive said. \u201cHe is a guy you are going to want on a second contract. They have had horrible receivers there for a decade-plus. He doesn\u2019t have any injury history like (Jordyn Tyson), and those were the only receivers worthy of a top-10 pick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another executive would like to see better instincts and burst out of Tate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSolid player,\u201d the executive said. \u201cNot explosive fast, but he\u2019s strong and tough. I\u2019d like him to have more instincts and a little more burst.\u201d<\/p>\n

One executive understands that they viewed Tyson as too much of a risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe they felt Tyson was too much risk,\u201d another exec said. \u201cSometimes the newer GM does not want to get criticized. It\u2019s a solid pick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?<\/p>\n

Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors<\/a> on X.com<\/a>\u00a0and FACEBOOK<\/a>\u00a0for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colts WR Josh Downs said he\u2019s excited about the head-to-head matchup with his brother this year when the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2056],"tags":[15930,613,2240,7,221,253,2368,7602,1509,2201,51905,6,901,222,13122],"class_list":{"0":"post-887336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-azeez-al-shaair","9":"tag-caleb-downs","10":"tag-carnell-tate","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-texans","14":"tag-houstontexans","15":"tag-jordyn-tyson","16":"tag-josh-downs","17":"tag-kayden-mcdonald","18":"tag-keylan-rutledge","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-nick-caserio","21":"tag-texans","22":"tag-will-anderson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}