The Texans won AFC South last season, but this division might be as competitive as it has been in a long time in 2019.
Andrew Luck is back to his old self, the Jaguars added a quarterback who can throw the ball and the Titans seemed to find an identity in the running game last year.
All that leads to speculation that this division is up for grabs, and while there may not be a 13-win team in it in 2019, there may not be a team worse than .500 when all is said and done.
Here's the outlook for the AFC South heading into training camp:
Team on the rise
Jacksonville Jaguars
Calling the Jaguars a team on the rise two seasons after they made the AFC championship feels wrong, but there is no denying it's right. There''s no denying the NFL is a quarterback-driven league, and it appears Jacksonville finally has a quarterback. Nick Foles signed four-year, $88 million deal with the team this offseason and will replace much-maligned Blake Bortles. Simply having a QB who can protect the ball will go a long way for the team's defense and for getting Leonard Fournette some room to run.
Team on the decline
Houston Texans
There are several ways the Texans are on the rise. They added a couple of offensive linemen early in the draft, which should help the team protect quarterback Deshaun Watson. The young QB has another year under his belt, and younger defenders like Justin Reid should be primed to improve this season.
But the team is in the middle of a contract disagreement with Jadeveon Clowney that might lead to a holdout. The offensive linemen the team drafted are a ways away from being great, plus the team let shutdown cornerback Tyrann Mathieu go for virtually nothing and they'll go through the 2019 season without a general manager after firing Brian Gaine after one year running the team.
Oh yeah, and Bill O'Brien still has issues with simple clock and game management. That's a team that could easily decline.
Rookies to watch
Josh Allen, LB, Jaguars: As if the Jaguars didn't already have enough pass-rushing talent, the Raiders and Giants passed on Allen who might have been the best player in college football with Kentucky last year. He's going to make an already scary front seven for the Jaguars even more terrifying.
Kahale Warring, TE, Texans: A former water polo player who really came into his own at San Diego State last year, Warring gives Watson a tight end who can finally scare a defense with his pass-catching and could be an intriguing part of the offense for the next several years.
Player spotlight
Darius Leonard
Leonard completely changed the feel of the Colts defense as a rookie in 2018. He finished the season with 163 tackles, four forced fumbles and two interceptions and turned Indianapolis' defense from one to be laughed at into one to be cautious about. His performance in 2019 could go a long way toward continuing to make the team's defense better — or letting it regress back to where it was before. If he is what he was last year, then the Colts should continue to get better. If he's not, then Andrew Luck will be pressing again on offense.
Key injuries
Andrew Luck, calf: The Colts quarterback, who'll be 30 in September, was forced to miss all of the team's offseason workouts because of a lingering calf injury, but the team doesn't seem too concerned about his long-term outlook. However, the Colts weren't concerned about his shoulder either when he missed all of 2017. This could be something of concern — or it might not be. It's just another part of the long-running concerns about Luck's health that always seem to plague his career.