{"id":936204,"date":"2026-07-04T06:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T06:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/936204\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T06:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T06:24:16","slug":"afc-notes-brian-thomas-jr-keylan-rutledge-jaguars-texans-titans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/936204\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC Notes: Brian Thomas Jr., Keylan Rutledge, Jaguars, Texans, Titans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jaguars WR Brian Thomas<\/a> Jr. didn\u2019t have the sophomore season many were expecting after a tremendous rookie campaign. Jacksonville QB Trevor Lawrence<\/a> knows their connection is vital to the offense\u2019s success, and outlined what they\u2019ve done this offseason to get that connection rolling.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year at times we just weren\u2019t on the same page for whatever reason,\u201d Lawrence said, via the team\u2019s website<\/a>. \u201cWe have taken a huge step in that area. He\u2019s so fast, running by guys all the time. A lot of it was, looking at myself and saying, \u2018OK, where can I improve and get better? How can I get him the ball more accurately on time down the field, give him opportunities to go run under the ball and make plays?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a talented player. We just have to find those opportunities more. We talked about it a lot \u2014 BT, Liam, all of us. It\u2019s starting to pay off and it\u2019s just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texans OL Keylan Rutledge<\/a> enters his rookie season with some questions about whether he\u2019ll line up at center or guard. Rutledge said he\u2019s been getting reps at center in their offseason program and is feeling \u201cmore comfortable\u201d in the role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think definitely as you get more reps, you get more comfortable,\u201d Rutledge said, via Aaron Wilson. <\/a> \u201cI have done that before, but when you have your hand on the ball more, there\u2019s going to be some growing pains in that, and I\u2019m just working those out every day. Once you learn it, you\u2019re fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutledge said he\u2019s been building good chemistry with veteran G Wyatt Teller<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been huge,\u201d Rutledge said. \u201cHe kind of plays the game how I like it because he plays. He\u2019s nasty. He mauls. There\u2019s so much with that kind of swag, that kind of mentality he brings that I love to see. Just how to be a pro. He\u2019s had a really good career, and he\u2019s getting up there in age. You see how he operates, and it\u2019s been great to learn from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for playing under OL coach Cole Popovich, Rutledge said he\u2019s exactly the type of coach he wanted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s all ball,\u201d Rutledge said. \u201cHe\u2019s kind of what you want in a line coach. You want him to be all ball. Every little thing you do wrong, he wants you to be on it. You want a guy like that to be on you. It\u2019s going to make you a better player in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Titans DT Jeffery Simmons<\/a> is excited to play in HC Robert Saleh\u2018s defense and believes that he\u2019s in a great scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of my first year playing in an attack defense,\u201d Simmons said, via the team\u2019s website<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s my game. I like to play on the other side of the line of scrimmage \u2026 I love this type of defense, to be able to be on the other side of the line of scrimmage each and every play. It demands you to make plays. I love this philosophy, and think it will help me make a lot more plays in the backfield, and it will help this team for sure.\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":"Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr. didn\u2019t have the sophomore season many were expecting after a tremendous rookie campaign.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":811728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2060],"tags":[4133,28133,7,212,125,2401,213,10563,51905,1642,6,6043,314,10141],"class_list":["post-936204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-brian-thomas-jr","tag-cole-popovich","tag-football","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-jacksonvillejaguars","tag-jaguars","tag-jeffery-simmons","tag-keylan-rutledge","tag-liam-coen","tag-nfl","tag-robert-saleh","tag-trevor-lawrence","tag-wyatt-teller"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116860280090082312","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936204","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=936204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}