ESPN NFL

Some battles for open jobs around the league may start to sort themselves out during OTAs and minicamps.

That’s not going to happen on the right side of the Texans offensive line, where the team will be replacing guard Mike Brisiel and tackle Eric Winston.

“Those things don’t normally sort themselves out until you put the pads on,” coach Gary Kubiak told Houston reporters Tuesday. “Right now it’s more finesse and positioning-type stuff.”

Antoine Caldwell (nickname: Gump) is at right guard and Rashard Butler is at right tackle now, and Kubiak said things look “about normal” like that.

“Time will tell,” Kubiak said. “Gump’s gotta stay healthy, stay on the field. Butler’s kind of been the same way. They will get pushed. I think (Derek) Newton is way ahead of where he was last year and this young guard (Brandon Brooks) has got a chance to be a heck of a player. It’s going to be a very good competition.

“I want to see (Caldwell and Butler) just compete. I want to see them hold up. That’s been the thing with both of them. They’ve had good spurts in their career but you’re looking for 16 weeks. One thing about our offensive line, all our guys play and stay on the field for a long time and these two guys need to be able to prove they can do that, too.”

The offensive line was a huge piece of why the Texans won the division and a playoff game last season. Replacing two-fifths of it is a big mission.

Running back Arian Foster said he’s confident the guys stepping in will step up.

“They have to,” Foster said. “That’s what this game is about. We proved that last year with that whole ‘next man up’ thing.”

» NFC pressure points: West | North | South | East
» AFC pressure points: West | North | South | East

Examining who faces the most challenging season for the Texans and why.

Matt Schaub has been Houston’s starting quarterback for five seasons, and he’s played all 16 games only twice. You can’t blame him for a bad-luck injury like last year’s right foot Lisfranc issue that required serious surgery. Still, to be a big-time quarterback, you need to be on the field.

Schaub has yet to play in a postseason game. Although the Texans weren’t able to hold everything together from their first playoff team, they still have a strong roster. In 2012, this should be a playoff team that can challenge for the AFC South crown. But it won’t get to the postseason or do well in it if Schaub doesn’t have a solid, consistent and healthy season.

His contract situation complicates things. This is the final year of his deal, so he has a lot at stake. I think the Texans will look to keep Schaub in place no matter what happens. If he’s banged up and they don’t impress with a deep playoff run, Schaub will get less of a jackpot than he would if they run away with the division and go to the Super Bowl.

Schaub can be excellent running coach Gary Kubiak’s offense, and the quarterback and coach are probably married for the long term. Kubiak was last year’s pressure point and he performed. This year it’s on Schaub.

Reading the coverage …

Houston Texans

Owner Bob McNair’s challenge is to keep contract extensions for coach Gary Kubiak and GM Rick Smith at a manageable length “so that he won’t hesitate to pull the trigger if the time does come that he has to make a move,” writes Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle.

Recently cut receiver and return man Jacoby Jones signed with the rival Ravens, says John McClain of the Chronicle.

Indianapolis Colts

The rookie wage scale that was part of the new collective bargaining agreement means the contract for No. 1 pick Andrew Luck won’t be difficult, says Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Quarterback Jordan Palmer doesn’t see as much Bob Bratkowski influence on the Jaguars’ offense as he expected, says Tania Ganguli.

Tennessee Titans

Matt Hasselbeck and Michael Roos have built a close friendship based on mutual respect, says Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean. Hasselbeck jokes that two bald guys spend a lot of time discussing hair styles.

Gary Kubiak had me back in early December. After he took a beaten up team, won the division and assured the Texans of their first playoff appearance, this skeptic pivoted and said the coach had earned an extension.

There was little doubt he’d get one, but little has happened on that front either.

Monday, owner Bob McNair said he will soon talk to Kubiak and general manager Rick Smith, who are both heading into the final years of their current contracts, about new ones.

“We’ll start working on that,” McNair said at the team’s charity golf tournament, per comments distributed by the team. “We’ve just had a lot of other things on our plate, but yeah, we’ll get around to that … I think they’ve done an outstanding job,” McNair said. “... I’m pleased with them, and if that wasn’t the case, we wouldn’t be extending them.”

He said he typically sits down with his coach first, then his general manager.

Asked how important it is to take care of their contracts, he said “Well, it’s hard to play if you don’t have a coach and general manager, so I guess I need to take care of it.”

There have been times when I may have wondered if McNair was being too patient with his top two football people.

Now I agree they're deserving.

It amounted to fast-break basketball on grass: a summer tournament seven-on-seven football game.

Stratford High School coach Eliot Allen watched it unfold from his usual spot in the back of an end zone, not interacting with the kids representing his school against Dez Bryant and Lufkin High.

Over two 20-minute halves with a running clock, at a furious pace at which he had to throw the ball within four seconds of the snap against coverages that had no concern for the run, Andrew Luck didn’t throw an incomplete pass.

“He’s accuracy was unbelievable,” Allen said. “That one game he didn’t have an incomplete pass. I’ve never see it before or since. He throws such a catchable ball.”

When the Indianapolis Colts inevitably make Luck the first pick in the draft on April 26, the Stanford quarterback will enter the league rated by many scouts and evaluators as the most pro-ready quarterback since John Elway.

While Luck’s refined his remarkable touch as the leader of the Cardinal, he honed it early on in Texas seven-on-seven summer ball. He participated even as a rising ninth-grader, and Allen says Luck easily played 75 such games before moving onto college, contests that were crucial to the early development of good habits and exquisite ball placement.

As coach of Cypress Falls High, David Raffield regularly saw Luck play during the summer, then coached against Stratford in regular season and playoff football during Luck’s junior and senior years.

“Watching Andrew grow and develop into a quarterback was nothing short of amazing,” said Raffield, who now coaches A&M Consolidated High School in College Station. “The seven-on-seven allowed him to really develop his game. When you are out there as a quarterback running the offense, it’s not plays being called by a coach. You’re the guy doing it. You’re becoming your own offensive coordinator. …

“His junior and senior year he had an amazing ability to place the football. The accuracy was phenomenal. He understood pass coverages. It gave him such advantages. I didn’t know he’s wind up being an NFL first-round draft pick, but I knew he was special.”

The summer before Luck’s senior year in 2007, his team finished second in Texas and played in a national tournament in Los Angeles. There, football staffs of high schools from California and Florida coached their players, Allen recalled.

It doesn’t work that way in Texas, where a state organization runs the leagues and tournaments. A high school’s coaches might help arrange leagues, tournaments and officials, but players work under the watch of others. Stratford uses former players from its team as summer ball coaches.

Texans coach Gary Kubiak was a St. Pius X High School (Houston) and Texas A&M quarterback well before seven-on-seven summers started. He joked if he had a chance to play that much, people would have discovered he wasn’t any good.

Klein Kubiak, a former Strake Jesuit High School receiver who graduated in 2009 and now plays at Rice, played in the same district and overlapped with Luck. So as Gary Kubiak followed his son, he saw Luck play in tournaments. He’s also seen just how much the competition and setting have done for Texas signal-callers.

“He was very impressive,” Gary Kubiak said. “I think there is a lot of growth going on in those leagues right now. On a Saturday afternoon, those kids might play six of those games.

“I just think you can’t get enough of those repetitions. It’s almost like having two spring balls. It’s almost gotten a little bit year-round, kind of like baseball.”

Such summer-league play takes place in a lot of states now. But Texas was a pioneer.

So it’s no coincidence that the three top quarterbacks in this draft -- Luck, Robert Griffin III and Ryan Tannehill -- are all from Texas.

“Think about these names,” said Tennessee Titans quarterback coach Dowell Loggains, who started at quarterback for Cooper High School in Abilene, Texas, in 1997 and 1998 in both summer seven-on-seven and regular fall football. “Ryan Mallett, Andy Dalton, Colt McCoy, Christian Ponder, Andrew Luck, Matthew Stafford, Kevin Kolb, Robert Griffin, Case Keenum.

“I mean it’s huge. That’s why all these Texas high school quarterbacks are coming out and doing really well. They are so much further along than the rest of the states, plus they get 15 dates for spring practice just like a college. They are getting so many more reps than the rest of the country.”

Other states may be taking note and trying to copy, Loggains said. But it’ll be tough for many to match or top Texas because of the facilities and money high school football has in the Lone Star State.

Added ESPN analyst Jon Gruden when asked about Texas’ production of quarterbacks: “Obviously if you go to Texas, you can probably find passing tournaments going on right now, and if they're not going on right now, they'll be going on later this afternoon and for sure tomorrow and the next day. They throw the ball and have organized passing camps more than any place I've ever been.”

Allen said seven-on-seven forces quarterbacks to figure out ways to beat man-to-man coverage with two-deep safeties and that doing so at an early stage of their football careers is invaluable. Against such a look from the secondary in an actual high school game, a quarterback would hand off most of the time.

“You don’t win those games playing defense,” Allen said. “It reveals a quarterback’s accuracy and I don’t think you can simulate stiff coverage in a better way. Andrew was very good at it. He can throw the deep ball. A lot of people give him a hard time about not being able to throw the deep ball. He was great at it. But his deal is, he just wants to get first downs.”

As a high-schooler, Loggains said he thought the summer opportunity was “awesome.”

And it made it a heck of a lot easier to get time and work with receivers, who might not show up for an informal session on a Tuesday night but wouldn’t miss a chance to play in a game with a score and a title on the line.

The proliferation of seven-on-seven play actually influenced the game at all levels.

Coaches found they had quarterbacks equipped to run spread offenses in high school and moved away from traditional run-heavy, defense-centric schemes. They then fed those quarterbacks to colleges, where the spread continued to spread.

And when those quarterbacks landed in the NFL, teams had no choice but to employ some spread concepts, willingly or unwillingly, to try to take advantage of their quarterbacks’ strengths.

“When we had Vince Young, we had to mix in a lot of that with [offensive coordinators] Norm Chow and Mike Heimerdinger,” Loggains said.

Rather than an NFL idea trickling down, a byproduct of a high school idea trickled up.

And one scout I spoke with said he sees no end to it.

“That’s the new craze, the seven-on-seven stuff,” he said. “Texas has been doing it longer and it’s the most organized state. How many good quarterbacks have come out of Texas the last 10 years? A ton. The more reps you get at anything, the better you’ll be at it.

“It’s why I stink so bad at golf.”

Perhaps no underachieving player in the division gets more, steady, public cover from his team than Kareem Jackson, the Texans’ cornerback heading into his third year.

He was the 20th pick of the 2010 draft, when I felt like the draft went off the course the Texans expected and they got a little panicky. The talked about how pro ready he was coming out of Alabama and they made him a starter from the very beginning.

But even in an upgraded secondary last season, he couldn’t secure a full-time job, splitting work at the cornerback slot opposite free-agent addition Johnathan Joseph with Jason Allen, who’s now gone. (Nate Dunlevy of Bleacher Report recently wrote about Jackson as on the hot seat in Houston.)

Jackson doesn’t play with the confidence the Texans seem to try to instill with the constant reinforcement, often appearing timid. He got better under new defensive back coach Vance Joseph, but he still qualifies as the weak link in the defense.

Perhaps Brandon Harris, a mid-round draft pick from 2011, will get in position to challenge Jackson or provide a security blanket. Perhaps the team will draft a cornerback to fill Allen’s role. Perhaps it will pick up a veteran down the road when some shake free out of training camps.

But ideally, Jackson would graduate and become the player the Texans like to say he is. If he does, the defense has the potential to be as good as it was a year ago, when it often carried Houston.

Gary Kubiak was fond of saying both Jackson and Allen qualified as starters. Jackson played 55.73 percent of the Texans’ snaps on defense, Allen played 49.05 percent.

Getting only a bit more than half-time work out of a first-round draft pick hardly qualifies as a success. It’s only Year Three. Plenty of players emerge to play their best at this stage.

Receiver Jacoby Jones was a candidate here, but I fully expect the Texans to add a wide receiver who would take playing time away from Jones. Jackson should be counted on to play more, not expected to play less.

If I am a coordinator planning for the Texans, I’m making an effort to go after Jackson until he shows me he can make plays to slow me down.

For what the Texans need out of their second inside linebacker, I think they are quite happy with the idea of Darryl Sharpton filling what used to be DeMeco Ryans’ spot.

Sharpton created a solid buzz back in his first training camp in 2010, when the Texans were still playing a 4-3. As a rookie he started six games as an injury fill-in, five on the weakside and one in the middle.

Coming off a quad injury that cost him most of the 2011 season, he could have to battle a draft pick for the inside spot next to Brian Cushing. The other veteran on the inside last year, Tim Dobbins, is a free agent whose name hasn’t come up at all to this point.

Here’s what Scouts Inc. has to say about Sharpton:

Sharpton is a bit shorter than you'd like a linebacker to be but is a superior athlete. He has excellent lateral range and does a good job of coming to balance as he squares up, in the hole, to make the tackle. He needs some work on recognizing blocking schemes and making quick decisions. Once he makes the diagnosis he is quick to pull the trigger. He can deliver a big hit when tackling the ball carrier and flashes good pop to neutralize blocks. He needs work on using his hands. He gets excellent depth in his pass drops but needs work on route recognition and reading the quarterback's eyes.

Coach Gary Kubiak said Sharpton doesn’t automatically get the spot, but will get the opportunity to take it.

“He’s physical, he can run, his problem has been staying upright, staying healthy,” Kubiak said. “So I think if he can stay in one piece he’s got a heck of a chance to help us out.”

Ryans likes him, and thinks he will fare well as a starter.

“Sharpton is going to be a good player,” Ryans said. “He’s a very instinctive player and he’s going to make a lot of plays in the open field. He’s a good young linebacker and he’s capable of stepping in and making plays.”

The Texans don't head into the draft with a long list of needs. They need restocking.

They'll draft a receiver, an outside linebacker and an offensive lineman, I feel certain. Beyond that they have a lot of freedom to find the best players available. Cornerback, inside linebacker and tight end qualify as secondary areas where they need new depth.

Nickel defenses are played more than ever in the NFL.

But the AFC South may be moving the other direction in games against each other.

The Texans are comfortable lining up with three wide receivers or splitting tight end Owen Daniels out into spread formations. The Jaguars and Titans figured to remain running back-centric. If the Titans get a bounce-back from Chris Johnson, they will likely run more. Of course those two teams can spread things out with the intent to run, of course.

But two games when AFC South teams loaded up with nickel packages are likely to change.

The departure of Peyton Manning from the Colts means one team that dictated constant nickel defenses is being altered. New coach Chuck Pagano has talked about running and stopping the run and GM Ryan Grigson said Monday he expects the Colts to be a fullback team.

A linebacker is typically going to stay on the field against a two-back set. The lack of a precision passing offense and weapons like Dallas Clark and Pierre Garcon will make it tougher for the Colts to dictate a team's defensive personnel, or to take advantage of it.

"The third linebacker or the nickel corner?” Texans coach Gary Kubiak said at the owners meetings, repeating a question about what’s more important. “You look at your schedule and say, 'OK, what are we going to play this year? Are we going to be in nickel all year, or are we going to be trying to stop the run?' I think that's what things will come down to.

“One year you might be out there in nickel defense 60 or 70 percent of the time. The next year it could be 50. It all starts with your division. When Peyton was at Indy, if we didn't have three good corners we were in trouble every time we played them. So I think you've kind of got to build your roster to compete in your division, No. 1, and make that decision."

This means the Jaguars will have two more games where they can play more with their great linebacking trio of Paul Posluszny, Daryl Smith and Clint Session on the field together.

This means the Titans' new nickelback -- whether he's an outsider or Ryan Mouton, Chris Hawkins or Tommie Campbell -- isn't going to be as important against Indy as recent ones have been.

This means DeMeco Ryans' replacement in the Texans base defense, Darryl Sharpton, will get additional snaps.

Is that better or worse? As good as Andrew Luck will be coming out of Stanford, defenses are going to want to play the rebuilding Colts in 2012.

Recapping the wild day that culminated in the trade of Tim Tebow not to the Jaguars, but to the Jets, with Tania Ganguli of the Florida Times-Union. The issue I had was that while Tebow said he didn't have input into where he landed, he said his agent was in regular communication with the Broncos. Hey Tim, the agent is speaking on your behalf.

Matt Hasselbeck was completely reasonable and measured as he discussed his feelings about the Titans' chase of Peyton Manning. He said you "... don’t flinch, don’t blink, you just do your job better.” Pitch perfect. That could be on the next sign Mike Munchak posts on a wall at team headquarters. Jim Wyatt's story from The Tennessean.

Pat Robertson says if Manning gets hurt and misses the season the Broncos would be paying the price for their treatment of Tebow. Give me a break. Another overly emotional Tebow fan feeling he's mistreated. Teams are allowed to upgrade. Even encouraged to do so. Reid Cherner's story from USA Today.

Tight end Joel Dreessen is deciding between offers from Denver and Houston this morning, says John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. Gary Kubiak says the free agency period's been tough on the Texans, but they have to forge ahead.

Reading the coverage ...

Houston Texans

Gary Kubiak will be honored as the AFC coach of the year at the NFL 101 Awards, says John McClain of the Houston Chronicle.

Indianapolis Colts

Quarterback guru George Whitfield says Andrew Luck is as prepared for the NFL as anyone can be, writes Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star.

The Colts have an option not to return to Anderson for training camp but hope to be back, says Chappell.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Guard Will Rackley believes he can be a great player, writes John Oehser of the team’s website.

Tennessee Titans

The strong combine performance by Memphis defensive tackle Dontari Poe likely means he won’t be an option for the Titans at No. 20, says Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean.

A mock draft rundown from Wyatt.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Let's hop around to seven things I took away from the NFL scouting combine with an AFC South takeaway on each:

1. There are a lot of intriguing receivers, but some insiders don’t expect even Justin Blackmon to be a quick, high-impact guy like A.J. Green and Julio Jones were last year. It’s the beginning of hole-punching season and scouts and analysts will pick people apart. But while there are a lot of talented receivers coming out, if you are a team that needs immediate impact, one strong opinion says you’d be wise to shop in a pretty good free-agent market.

What it means to the division: The Jaguars have to land at least one big-time guy in free agency. I nominate Vincent Jackson. The Colts need to hold onto Reggie Wayne or Pierre Garcon.

2. The top guys seem like sure things: Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III and USC left tackle Matt Kalil could go 1-2-3 if someone trades into St. Louis’ No. 2 pick. I’ve not heard anyone raising any real issues with any of the three or with LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne. The quarterbacks are expected to be franchise guys, the tackle can protect a franchise guy and the corner can take away the franchise guy’s top target.

What it means to the division: There is no suspense at all about what the Colts are going to do and Luck’s combine visit to Lucas Oil Stadium was the first of many. Claiborne could be irresistible if he is there at No. 7 for the Jags.

3. Position values can be overrated. Historically, guards and safeties are not regarded as early first-round values. But this draft may feature singular guys at each spot, and it makes little sense to pass on Stanford guard David DeCastro or Alabama safety Mark Barron if you have a hole at the position. They are both drawing raves.

What it means for the division: Both probably disappear after the Colts and Jaguars have picked first and seventh but before the Titans pick 20th.

4. Quinton Coples is going to be a scary pick. The North Carolina defensive end gets some people talking about Julius Peppers. But his effort in his final year with the Tar Heels was questionable at best. ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay said it looked like Coples “had a union deal” the way he went through the motions. The team that takes him won’t have a guarantee joining its roster, it'll have a guy a defensive line coach will need to figure out.

What it means for the division: The Jaguars could go into the draft still needing a rush end, but the knocks on Coples don’t make him seem like a match with GM Gene Smith at all.

5. There is a flurry of new information teams will be gathering for a couple more days. But when scouts and personnel executives get back to their offices Wednesday, the film will once again be the prevalent measure they put to work as they stack their boards. Forty times, bench press numbers, Wonderlic scores and interview notes will all factor into grades. But the most significant information gained in Indianapolis is typically the hands-on medical information training staffs gather. Details of issues there may also be the biggest secrets.

What it means for the division: Nothing different than for anyone else. We don’t know what we don’t know, and the intrigue is a big part of why this whole process is so insanely popular.

6. News nuggets from coaches and GMs are more and more difficult to pry loose at this stage of the year. We learned Jaguars defensive tackle Tyson Alualu had knee surgery, the Colts have made a contract offer to Pierre Garcon he didn’t accept, the Texans still see Matt Leinart and T.J. Yates competing for the No. 2 quarterback job and the Titans might overpay for a veteran edge rusher. Beyond that? Not much. A lot of generalities as secrecy ruled the day.

What it means for the division: Run through the AFC South coaches and GMs. Who’s the most dynamic, chatty guy of the bunch? I think it’ll be Colts coach Chuck Pagano in time. Five of the eight guys are in their first or second season in the job. Everyone is pretty reserved at this point, even the veterans of the group, Rick Smith and Gary Kubiak of the Texans.

7. We need to go find the specifics of a different rule every year. Colts general manager Ryan Grigson and Pagano both said they had not seen Peyton Manning throw. They didn’t say they aren’t allowed to see Manning throw. As it turns out, though, NFL rules don’t allow for executives beyond medical staff to watch even a rehabilitating player work at this point. While I don’t believe there is a decision still to be made, it’s interesting that the Colts' new duo at the top will only be able to hear reports from medical people and not see for themselves by the March 8th bonus deadline for Manning.

What it means for the division: Every team in the division will have a question at quarterback heading into camp: Is Matt Schaub’s foot healed? Can Matt Hasselbeck hold off Jake Locker? Does Blaine Gabbert get better? And how effective can Luck be from the start?

INDIANAPOLIS -- While still backing Kevin Walter and Jacoby Jones, Texans coach Gary Kubiak conceded this week the Texans are looking for a wide receiver.

One draft prospect who looks like a nice fit to play with, and eventually succeed, Andre Johnson is LSU’s Rueben Randle.

At just under 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, he’s a nice combination of size, strength and speed. He’s a willing blocker which also makes him a potential fit for Houston, which drafts 26th in the first round.

“I try to model myself after Calvin Johnson, he’s a big body receiver," Randle said. “He makes a lot of plays deep down the field and also yards after the catch. I try to model myself in that kind of way.”

Johnson’s also been on Randle’s radar.

“You’ve got no choice but to look at him," Randle said. “He makes plays each and every Sunday whether it’s two guys on him, three he just goes and makes plays on the ball and the quarterback trusts him. That’s the kind of thing I’m trying to build with the quarterbacks I play with.

“…That’d be great (to play with him). I’m pretty sure he’s going to get a lot of attention, that would free me up a little bit so it wouldn’t be much of a struggle for me. It’d be great to play with a great receiver like Andre Johnson, I’d just look forward to that.”

Said ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay: “Of the bigger guys, Randle can probably get down the field the best and is probably the most athletic.”

The downside?

McShay has trouble forgetting Randle’s performance in LSU’s national championship game loss to Alabama.

“He quit on them in the national championship game, which drive me nuts,” McShay said. “But you just have to live with it, he’s a receiver.”

Randle wasn’t asked about the championship game. Be he did rate Alabama’s DeQuan Menzie as the best defensive back he saw beyond LSU teammates.

INDIANAPOLIS -- T.J. Yates showed himself to be a capable NFL quarterback after both Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart went down for the Texans, winning the franchise’s first playoff game.

But Gary Kubiak just told the media at the NFL scouting combine that Yates won’t go into camp as the No. 2 if he has the same three quarterbacks on the roster now.

“If we lined up going into camp tomorrow and I’ve got all three of those guys back, I know who my one is,” Kubiak said. “I think what I would do is have T.J. and Matt [Leinart] go back and battle for the backup spot behind Schaubie.

“I think both of those guys did well with their opportunity. It’s hard to fault Leinart with what happened to him. He played a half of football and was playing very well (before getting hurt). They’re still both young players making their way to the top.”

But the Texans need to find cap savings, and Leinart is due a $3 million base salary in 2012. He could be at risk because of that.

Kubiak is confident that Schaub will be recovered from surgery to repair a Lisfranc foot injury in plenty of time for camp.

The coach said Schaub called him last week to invite him to play a round of golf.

“He’s doing great,” Kubiak said. “… He’s out of his boot, he’s walking, he’s doing everything he can do. He’s in every morning. I think our expectations are for him, once we get to [organized team activities], he will do everything, probably be excluded out of team work just to keep him out of harm’s way.

“But all indications are that he will be full speed sometime in May and will be ready to go in camp."

INDIANAPOLIS -- Greetings from Lucas Oil Stadium, where the scouting combine is kicking off.

Here’s a quick rundown of what you can expect AFC South-wise:

• Titans general manager Ruston Webster and coach Mike Munchak will talk with the media Thursday morning.
• Colts general manager Ryan Grigson and coach Chuck Pagano are slated to be at the interview podium Thursday afternoon.
• Texans general manager Rick Smith and coach Gary Kubiak will talk Friday afternoon.
• Jaguars coach Mike Mularkey will also talk Friday afternoon, and I hope to catch up with general manager Gene Smith on my own.

Player-wise, quarterbacks are to visit with reporters on Friday, and Andrew Luck will obviously be the focus and our focus.

Thursday features offensive linemen, kickers, punters and long-snappers. Friday is running backs and receivers in addition to QBs. On Saturday, defensive linemen and linebackers get their turn. And we wrap Sunday with defensive backs.

Stay tuned for regular updates.

Kelly in Jacksonville, Fla., writes: What do you think about the idea that Jacksonville would sign Laurent Robinson? He is certainly a young receiver, that has maybe already been through the growing pains of transferring into the NFL. Also, even though he isn't considered a top tier guy, he would likely come at a much more reasonable price.

Paul Kuharsky: I like Robinson for the reasons you say. Just not as the lead guy. Sign a big-time guy who’s more proven as the No. 1 (Vincent Jackson would be my choice) and grab Robinson as No. 2, and I think that would be great.

---

Adam Brune in Ocean Springs, Miss., writes: In your opinion what are the chances the titans would bring Haynesworth back to Tennessee?

Paul Kuharsky: Zero. We asked Mike Munchak about it on the radio in Nashville right after the news Haynesworth had been released came out, and he said as much.

---

Fred Scheppele from Colorado Springs, Colo., writes: Why have so many jumped on the bandwagon that Peyton would not want to stay because this team is not competitive? It is basically the same team that was winning 10 and 12 games with him at the helm, and they should be able to do the same if he comes back healthy. Maybe even better, since they now have higher draft choices to bring better talent in next year. I just don't get it.

Paul Kuharsky: It’s not basically the same team at all.

For starters, it will be constructed by Ryan Grigson and coached by Chuck Pagano. Those are massive changes.

Robert Mathis, Jeff Saturday, Reggie Wayne and Pierre Garcon could all be gone. Three of those four are getting up there. With or without Manning, the secondary is currently horrifically thin. The offensive line had a lot of guys who will have to function in a new system. Dallas Clark and Gary Brackett are coming off big injuries again, and Dwight Freeney counts $19 million against the cap.

There are more questions around this team than any team Manning quarterbacked since very early in his Colts career. Also, the Texans are as talented as any other team’s been in the division in some time.

---

Ed from Dallas, Texas writes: Matt Schaub is entering the last year of his contract, coming back from a Lisfranc injury and had his accuracy percentage drop each of the past two seasons. Considering that Gary Kubiak/Rick Smith are likely to get extensions, Do you think there's any chance that they turn an eye to the long term and do something unexpected like taking a QB of the future (Yates is a good backup but not starting caliber) in the first or second round? If not, do you see them extending Schaub before the season or letting him play out the season as somewhat of a lame-duck QB who has to prove himself to get resigned similar to what the 49ers did with Alex Smith?

Paul Kuharsky: I certainly can’t see them talking contract until they see the foot healed and functional. If and when it is, they could happily look to stay married to him for another term. If not, I think they love Yates and see him as ideal for what they want to do. Lack of need thanks to their quality depth will give them the freedom to draft who they like, so I won’t be completely surprised if they take another quarterback. I would be surprised if he was at No. 26 overall.

---

Myron Hustoft from San Antonio writes: I'm a little confused on your entry about Indy's second round. You stated their pick is the 34th overall. Compensatory picks, I thought, don't begin until after the third round and I can't find a reference to Indi swapping 2nd round picks with St. Louis. Why aren't they picking 33? Was a tagged on 1st rounder given to someone? If so, what was the reason?

Paul Kuharsky: It’s the 34th pick, the second pick of the second round. (I messed that up initially.)

Indy and St. Louis tied in the draft order, the Colts got No. 1 overall on a tiebreaker. Tied teams in draft order rotate their spot in subsequent rounds. So the Rams are first in the second round, the Colts first in the third round, the Rams first in the fourth, etc.

---

Amy Hamilton from Indianapolis writes: Why is Bruce skipping the AFC South? I'm going to have to go to Detroit!

Paul Kuharsky: It’s only the first leg. I’m going to Springsteen’s opener in Atlanta. So you won’t be the only traveler from the division.