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How the 21 franchise tags from around the NFL affect the teams of the AFC South.

Houston Texans

Salary cap limitations likely mean the Texans are not active in free agency. The market may have shifted on a guy like Reggie Wayne, who could have been attractive with Dwayne Bowe, DeSean Jackson and Wes Welker out of the unrestricted free agent picture.

More significantly, the price defensive end/outside linebacker Mario Williams will be able to attract if he gets to free agency is likely up. The Colts tagged Robert Mathis, the Lions tagged Cliff Avril and the Cardinals tagged Calais Campbell, and they were the next-best pass-rushers for needy teams to target.

Indianapolis Colts

Those three receivers -- Bowe, Jackson and Welker -- disappearing from the market mean that two Colts unrestricted free agents to-be probably fare a bit better. Pierre Garcon has speed and youth to sell and Wayne has veteran wiles and reliability.

The Colts could make another charge at signing Garcon before March 13th, but he may be determined to see what free agency can bring him.

I don’t think they will have much money to spend on free agents, but the offensive line and defensive tackles pools -- their biggest positions of need beyond receiver -- are unchanged.

Jacksonville Jaguars

No one needs a big-time, team-leading wide receiver more than the Jaguars do. I don’t believe they would have been players for Jackson or Welker. But Bowe could have been a guy they were interested in.

Whether or not they will be players for Williams, plan B should have been Mathis. The hit to the potential defensive end market hurts as a big-time pass-rusher is the big defensive need. Cornerback could still be OK with Tennessee’s Cortland Finnegan, Kansas City’s Brandon Carr and San Francisco's Carlos Rogers on track to reach free agency.

Tennessee Titans

That San Francisco tagged Dashon Goldson and Oakland franchised Tyvon Branch severely thinned the safety market, which helped prompt Tennessee to tag Michael Griffin. I would have loved to have seen their approach is the two guys from the West Coast were heading for unrestricted free agency.

Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean reported that Mathis would have been a target and general manager Ruston Webster had said a special, pass-rushing defensive end was one position for which the team might have been willing to overpay. He didn’t say overpay by a gigantic degree, however. With a bid for Williams unlikely, who’s the next best rusher now?

The money isn’t mine. I’m not certain about what you can afford and what the market will pay when free agency opens on March 13. I’m not positive about your plans and schemes.

But I’ve got a good sense of your team. We've looked at the free-agent list.

And here’s what I’d try to do with your major issues:

1) Land at least one premium free-agent wide receiver. I’d stack them something like this: San Diego’s Vincent Jackson, Kansas City’s Dwayne Bowe, Buffalo’s Steve Johnson, New Orleans’ Marques Colston. If you’re bold and will take two, I like Indianapolis’s Pierre Garcon or New Orleans’ Robert Meachem.

2) Re-sign safety Dwight Lowery. Just a year ago, you were a mess at safety. You did fine work signing Dawan Landry and trading for Lowery and shifting him from corner to fix it. You have to keep it fixed. Hopefully he realizes what a great fit he is in a top-flight defense. But there are a lot of safety-needy teams out there, including your AFC South rival Titans. Lowery needs to be in your lineup in 2012.

3) Be a player for Mario Williams. If Houston’s outside linebacker/defensive end becomes a free agent as I expect, you can afford to make a huge splash with him. And you’re a premier pass-rushing defensive end and a cornerback away from being a premier defense. If Williams goes elsewhere and the Colts’ Robert Mathis comes free, he should be the second target.

4) Shop free-agent quarterbacks to upgrade the backup plan for Blaine Gabbert. Chad Henne probably finds a better situation. Kyle Orton too. How about Jason Campbell? The new backup needs to have the right disposition -- sit back, offer guidance, run a good scout team. But he also needs to be able to play, because if Gabbert is bad again, you can’t just sacrifice the season. You have to have a better backup than Luke McCown.

5) Let defensive end Jeremy Mincey explore the market. He’s a supreme effort guy you’d like to have back. But he’s not worth the kind of money I imagine he’s looking for. If the rest of the league agrees, you’ll have a chance at him later. If he gets swept up, then someone likely overpaid.

6) Monitor your defensive tackles closely. Tyson Alualu's knee surgery wasn't said to be major, but the knee kept him from peak performance last season and they need to get it right. And Terrance Knighton's weight cannot continue to be an issue going forward. Ultimately it's on him, of course, but the new staff needs to find the best, most helpful approach.

7) Wait on Rashean Mathis unless he's cheap right away. The corner will be an unrestricted free agent but is coming off a torn ACL. He's a great team guy and can still play, but the end is in sight. You want him on a cheap, short deal and hopefully you draft the guy in April who replaces him in 2013.

8) While you have plenty of cap room, you still want to be conscious of paying reasonable prices. You can wait to decide on them later. But even a healthy Aaron Kampman isn’t worth a $4.97 million base. And fullback Greg Jones played only 38.7 percent of the team’s snaps last season but is schedule to make $3.4 million. Too much.

The Kansas City Chiefs' signing of cornerback Stanford Routt will likely wind up hurting the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Stay with me here.

By signing Routt, the Chiefs no longer need to re-sign Brandon Carr, their solid No. 2 corner. That gives them the freedom to use their franchise tag, if they so desire, on receiver Dwayne Bowe.

If Bowe doesn’t hit the market, there is one less good receiver available. Whether or not he’s the one the Jaguars covet, they should be as big a courter of receivers as we see when free agency opens March 13.

The more that are out there the better for Jacksonville.

So the AFC West has messed with at least one AFC South team — with Oakland releasing Routt and the Chiefs snatching him up.

Although the Jaguars also need a corner, and Carr's now out there.

K.C. Joyner breaks down seven free-agents to-be in the coming wide receiver pool in this Insider piece.

I wish he also included two Colts, Reggie Wayne and Pierre Garcon.

The Jaguars had one of the NFL’s two worst groups of receivers in the NFL last season and will definitely be considering free agents at the position. If the Colts don’t keep one or both of their guys, they’ll also have a need.

Here are Joyner’s bottom lines on the seven guys he writes about:

Dwayne Bowe, Kansas City: “Bowe may have stretch vertical limitations, but he should be able to upgrade the short and medium pass game of any team.”

Marques Colston, New Orleans: “Colston has the potential to be the best possession receiver in the NFL, but his productivity could drop off if he joins a team with less creative playcalling than he received with the Saints.”

DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia: “There is a reason the Eagles have shown some hesitation in paying him a big contract and why they may be considering either putting a franchise tag on or trading Jackson. He has more big-dollar bust potential than any other wide receiver in this year's field.”

Vincent Jackson, San Diego: “Jackson might be biggest risk-reward wideout in this year's free-agent class.”

Steve Johnson, Buffalo: “Johnson wants to be paid like a true No. 1 wideout but there are too many facets of his game that say he has a production ceiling that doesn't justify that type of expenditure.”

Brandon Lloyd, St. Louis: “Lloyd has the highest volume of notable negatives in this comparison.”

Mario Manningham, NY Giants: “Manningham's postseason performance, age and 2010 numbers show that he may have the most upside of any wideout in this group. Depending on how his postseason is viewed by teams in the free-agent market, he could end up as the best value acquisition wide receiver.”

I asked Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc. about the field-stretching speed of those seven plus Wayne and Garcon and what he’d like to see Jacksonville do.

“The Jags might need two of those guys! In terms of field stretchers, which is clearly a need for Jacksonville, Vincent Jackson and DeSean Jackson are way ahead of the rest. And both are excellent in this capacity. I prefer Vincent Jackson overall-bigger. And Mike Mularkey is going to want his receivers to block, which isn’t DeSean Jackson’s game. Manningham should be the cheapest on the list and if they were able to get two, he would be an ideal WR2 -- also with field stretching ability. Although not a burner, Dwayne Bowe could be the best fit. Physical and plays tough. But I bet Bowe is franchised.”

While we linked to a piece earlier today about how Jaguars' GM Gene Smith isn't completely determined to add only choir boys, I think Jackson's attitude might be a turnoff to Smith.

» NFC Final Word: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Five nuggets of knowledge about Week 6:

Blitzing Joe Flacco: The Texans generally get good pass pressure without extra rushers. A lot of that has been because of end-turned-linebacker Mario Williams. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Texans have 21 sacks when rushing four or fewer players since the start of 2010. Williams recorded 10 of them, and no other player has more than 4.5. Williams is out for the season with a torn pectoral muscle. Can Houston get to Flacco with a standard rush? If it can’t, will defensive coordinator Wade Phillips call for more blitzing? How the Texans try to disrupt Baltimore’s quarterback will be a big story line in Texans-Ravens.

Get MJD cranking: The Steelers have given up some big run yards this season, including 150 yards to Houston’s Arian Foster. To win at Pittsburgh, the Jaguars will need Maurice Jones-Drew to carry a big share of the load. He’s gained more than 80 yards in every game so far. That’s a rare feat; only Edgerrin James (2005), Priest Holmes (2003) and Robert Smith (1996) have done it over the last 15 years, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Jacksonville’s offensive line has been inconsistent and injuries have caused them to change things up. Tackles Eugene Monroe and Guy Whimper have been limited at practice this week.

Defensive backfield in doubt: Cincinnati rookie quarterback Andy Dalton and rookie receiver A.J. Green have developed a pretty good connection so far. The Colts will have to rely on their pass rush to throw Dalton out of rhythm, because their struggling secondary is a mess. Their best cornerback, Jerraud Powers, is probably out with a hamstring injury. That means Green will be working against the likes of Jacob Lacey, Terrence Johnson and Chris Rucker. It’s a group that did not have much success at all against Dwayne Bowe and the Kansas City Chiefs receivers a week ago.

Tight end- and running back-reliant: Matt Schaub threw for 416 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Raiders, but only 99 of those yards went to wide receivers. Schaub is the only quarterback since 2001 to throw for 300 yards in a single game to just tight ends and running backs. Although the team added Derrick Mason, Gary Kubiak and Schaub probably will continue to lean on Arian Foster, Owen Daniels and Joel Dreessen. They can win featuring those guys in the passing game, provided they get plays after intermission as well as before. Houston has outscored the competition 90-25 in the first half and been outscored 70-37 in the second half. They have scored 6 points in the third quarter. It doesn't say much about their ability to make any adjustments.

Mindset: While the Titans enjoy a weekend off, everyone involved in the run game should be preparing to return to action absolutely determined to get things cranking. They simply cannot be the worst run team in the league and remain an AFC playoff contender. Chris Johnson has to show far more determination and get back to running downhill. All his blockers and play-caller Chris Palmer have to get to the root of the issue and solve it. Five games is plenty for them to understand what is happening, what is not happening, and why.

Reading the coverage …

Houston Texans

Writes Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle: “[T]he thing that both excites and frustrates them about [Jacoby] Jones is that he can and should be so much better than he has been the last two weeks. He has the size and speed to be an impact player. The Texans know this because they've seen flashes of it in practice and at times in games during his first four seasons.”

Trindon Holliday will take over as the returner, to allow Danieal Manning and Jacoby Jones to focus on their primary jobs, writes McClain. I like the concept of a player taking the jobs away from key guys on offense and defense, but I’m scared of Holliday.

Indianapolis Colts

Injuries have left the Colts nearly devoid of quality defensive backs, says Phil Richards of the Indianapolis Star. Cincinnati’s rookie quarterback Andy Dalton and his receivers will have opportunities against this group.

Austin Collie’s workload is down, like a lot of skill players without Peyton Manning, says Mike Chappell.

Nate Dunlevy of 18to88 says Jacob Lacey was not as bad as people think against Dwayne Bowe.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars seek a new direction with their new punter Nick Harris, says Vito Stellino of the Times-Union.

Mike Tomlin didn’t care for questions about the Jaguars-Steelers playoff game that did wonders for the careers of Jack Del Rio and David Garrard, writes Tania Ganguli of the Times-Union.

Tennessee Titans

Offensive coordinator Chris Palmer was ticked off at Damian Williams for going on cruise control during the loss to the Steelers, writes John Glennon of The Tennessean.

Thoughts on the Colts’ 28-24 loss to the Chiefs at Lucas Oil Stadium:

What it means: Even with a 17-point lead at home against a bad team, the Colts are not safe. They dropped to 0-5 because they couldn’t contain receiver Steve Breaston, who caught two touchdown passes from Matt Cassel, and because they did nothing offensively after halftime. They had four series, three first downs and 64 total net yards after intermission.


What I didn’t like: I saw Chiefs receiver Dwayne Bowe run through virtually the entire secondary en route to a 41-yard touchdown. And Thomas Jones did similar work on a 21-yard run up the middle, where only Antoine Bethea was able to square him up and take him down. The Colts simply have to be closer to playmakers and do better bringing them down.

What I didn’t like, II: On fourth-and-6 with the Colts' last chance, Curtis Painter threw incomplete for Anthony Gonzalez. So be it. But if you’re throwing to a guy who’s going down on fourth down, at least make it a guy who’s at or beyond the first-down marker. A catch there is the same as the incompletion was because Gonzalez wasn’t deep enough.

What I liked: Aside from that final pass attempt, Painter was about as efficient as could be expected even with the second-half stall. He hit on 15 of 27 passes for 277 yards with no sacks behind a line that included a right tackle signed in the past week. He threw two TDs to Pierre Garcon for the second week in a row and didn’t throw a pick.

Injury concern: The Colts lost Joseph Addai to a hamstring injury after just six carries and Delone Carter and Donald Brown took the rest of the work at running back.

What’s next: The Colts make a short trip to Cincinnati to face the surprising Bengals and one of the league's top defenses so far.

ESPN.com’s NFL writers rank the top 10 cornerbacks in the league today. Next week: Top 10 quarterbacks.

Positional Power Rankings have produced some wild variations in voting. But none has had so many players mentioned as cornerbacks.

Previously, multiple votes had yielded 17 names. Our polling for the top 10 cornerbacks in the NFL touched on 23, a record that might be hard to break.

In another close finish, the Jets' Darrelle Revis edged the Raiders' Nnamdi Asomugha. The two collected all the first- and second-place votes, but Revis outscored Asomugha 77-75 thanks to five first-place votes.

Overall, veterans ruled the day, with the top five outpointing the rest of the field by a good deal. Revis and Asomugha were followed by three players with a collective 33 seasons of NFL cornerbacking experience: Green Bay’s Charles Woodson, Philadelphia’s Asante Samuel and Denver’s Champ Bailey.

Woodson finished with 58 points, Samuel with 54 and Bailey with 53.

Of the votes for that trio, only two fell outside of the top five. NFC North maestro Kevin Seifert had Woodson sixth, just behind his teammate Tramon Williams. And AFC East maven Tim Graham placed Bailey seventh, with New England’s Devin McCourty (fifth) and Minnesota’s Antoine Winfield above him.

I had presumed Bailey started to slip in his 12th season in 2010. Then he shut down a red-hot Dwayne Bowe and got my attention in a way I remembered when I put him third on my ballot.

Graham’s thinking was quite different.

“We're in the offseason, so I've taken into account not only last season's performances, but also how the player projects into 2011 when compiling my positional Power Rankings ballots,” he said. “Bailey is going to be 33 years old before the start of next season and is on the downside. He's still great, but for how long?

“Power Rankings shouldn't be career-achievement awards. Devin McCourty was second-team Associated Press All-Pro, a first-team Sporting News All-Pro, voted a Pro Bowl starter by the fans, coaches and players and tied for second in interceptions. He deserved to be ranked ahead of Bailey, who wasn't mentioned for All-Pro and made the Pro Bowl as an injury replacement.”

Though Graham had him fifth, McCourty got bottom-of-the-list votes from most of us, who seemed to respect his inaugural campaign but did not want to overscore a player who has been through the league only once. NFC South cruise director Pat Yasinskas left McCourty off his ballot entirely.

“One great season does not make a great career,” Yasinskas said. “Let's see him do it again. I'm not saying he's got to do it for 10 or 15 years. I've got a guy in my own back yard, Ronde Barber, and a lot of people say he's already put up Hall of Fame numbers. I didn't even put him on the list because I think he's not much more than a very nice player in the system. But you have to be consistently at the top for at least a few years before you get on a top 10 list.”

Winfield finished sixth (29 points), Williams seventh (18), McCourty eighth (17), Washington’s DeAngelo Hall ninth (10) and Tennessee’s Cortland Finnegan 10th (eight).

Williams was the lone player to make the top 10 while not being looked at as his team’s No. 1 guy. As much as I liked him, that prevented him from getting one of my votes. Same for Oakland’s Stanford Routt.

Although Williams and Routt played very well in 2010, their jobs can be made a lot easier by playing with Woodson and Asomugha rather than being asked to be their team’s version of those players. The toughest receiver on the opposition isn’t usually a factor for Williams or Routt.

John Clayton had Routt sixth and NFC West chart-master Mike Sando had him 10th, which left Routt in 11th place. Clayton set me straight on why Routt was, in fact, deserving.

“Nnamdi has years of not being thrown on,” Clayton said. “He’s had years in which only 14 or 15 passes were caught against him in a season.

“Routt had a phenomenal year in 2010, which led to his big contract,” Clayton said. “The percentage of passes against him that were completed was among the lowest in the league. His job is tougher because he has more passes thrown on him because of Nnamdi.”

Thoughts on the Titans’ loss to the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

What it means: At 6-9, the Titans are eliminated from playoff contention and will finish with a losing record.

What I didn’t like: The Titans did poorly against the Chiefs’ draws and screens as Jamaal Charles had 17 touches for a combined 117 rushing and receiving yards. They got killed by Dwayne Bowe, who took a third-and long conversion on an in-cut and went 75 yards for a touchdown while outrunning the entire Titans’ secondary. The Titans were just 3-for-12 on third down on offense and had the ball for just under 21 minutes.

What I liked: A big 52-yard touchdown connection with Kenny Britt for a touchdown that put Kerry Collins over 40,000 passing yards for his career. Five Collins-to-Jared Cook connections for 96 yards.

What I want to know: How do you manage one first down rushing all game? Can the Titans possibly defend defensive personnel who struggled yet again to get off the field, allowing nine conversions on 18 third downs and staying on the field for nearly 40 minutes?

What’s next: The Titans go to Indianapolis for their second game in four weeks against the Colts. They will have a chance to kill Indianapolis’ division title and playoff hopes.

With Austin Collie on injured reserve, just how much will Peyton Manning and the Colts miss the reliable receiver?

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Manning has a 142.3 passer rating when throwing to Collie this season. That’s the best quarterback passer rating when targeting a specific wide receiver in the NFL -- by a margin of 17.2 points.

Collie was targeted 71 times this year. He caught 58 passes for 649 yards and eight touchdowns, and none of those throws turned into interceptions.

The next best receivers who’ve been targeted at least 20 times: Kenny Britt (125.1), Mike Wallace (120.7), Dwayne Bowe (120.5) and Deion Branch (117.4).

“I’m disappointed for him,” Manning said of Collie at a Wednesday news conference in Indianapolis. “I know how hard he’s worked all offseason. I know how excited he was to be back the other day and how well he was playing. I wish him a recovery...

"It’s one of the worst parts about football when you see guys get injured and get put on injured reserve, especially a guy that loves football as much as he does and how much he wants to be out there. I just wish him a quick recovery.”

Cornerback Cortland Finnegan got a couple of fines and a warning. He’s wrestled with the local media. And he has not played as well as he expects.

The biggest factor? Probably the adjustment to playing on the right side, where the cornerback more frequently matches up with the opposition’s top receiver. This year that’s meant the likes of Hines Ward, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Roy Williams and Mike Sims-Walker.

“It’s a huge thing,” Finnegan said. “I’m taking it in stride and I think I am learning on the go. It’s nothing I can’t handle. I welcomed it with open arms and I realized there were going to be some growing pains. But I’ll accept them. That poses why things have been the way they are.”

He’s covered top receivers some in the past, but rarely for an entire game.

Sunday in Miami, the list starts to get tougher with Brandon Marshall.

“He’s elite,” Finnegan said. “I don’t know if you can really say one, two, three. But he’s in that elite category with Andre Johnson, Randy Moss, those guys. He’s a strong, physical guy. He can stretch the field. He can go up and get the football. There isn’t a lot he can’t do.”

Finnegan said he expects Marshall to try to get under his skin. He promised he will do the same. “Fireworks are going to happen early,” Finnegan said.

He's still working, it seems to me, on balancing that feisty edge with going too far for officials. To get where they want to go, Finnegan needs to play to the level of free safety Michael Griffin and rookie corner Alterraun Verner.

The Titans need Finnegan to handle Marshall, and they'll help him. A good game would bode well as there are other tough matchups to come.

Finnegan still gets two tough matchups with Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne and probably a close look at Dwayne Bowe.

Wrapping up Jacksonville's 42-20 loss against Kansas City.

What it means: They hung tough for a while, but the Jaguars ultimately dropped to 3-4 and remain at the bottom of the AFC South, behind the Titans (5-2), Texans (4-2) and Colts (4-2).

What I didn’t like: Operating in a tough situation, Todd Bouman actually gave the Jaguars a chance, but his interception to Derrick Johnson for a touchdown was a back-breaker. The defense might have been more disappointing, allowing 236 rushing yards, two Dwayne Bowe touchdown catches and four touchdowns in four Kansas City red-zone chances.

What I didn’t like, Part II: Matt Cassel was hardly stellar, but the Jaguars allowed him to put together the sort of limited-mistake effort the Chiefs needed to win. He was sacked only once, threw two touchdowns and no interceptions while posting a 144.0 passer rating.

What’s next: The Jaguars travel to Dallas for their second game of the season against an NFC East opponent.

HOUSTON -- Houston Texans star middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans has been ruled out for the rest of the game against Kansas City with an Achilles injury. No further information was given by the team.

He was taken off the field on a cart and he had a discouraging look on his face while being taken to the locker room. He was injured on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Kansas City’s Matt Cassel to Dwayne Bowe.

The Chiefs lead 14-7 early in the third quarter.