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A look at key players for each AFC South team who are coming back from injuries:

Houston Texans: There isn’t an easy, obvious fit here. Inside linebacker Brian Cushing is crucial, but all indications are he’s already largely back from the torn ACL he suffered early last season and will be good to go for training camp. Receiver DeVier Posey will be lucky if he makes it back by midseason from a torn Achilles, and they aren’t counting on him for 2013. Brooks Reed had groin surgery and Daryl Sharpton is still recovering from a hip operation. But the most uncertainty seems to involve right tackle Derek Newton. The Texans drafted Brennan Williams in the third round to have a viable alternative to a guy who had serious knee surgery after the season.

Indianapolis Colts: Josh Chapman was a fifth-round pick in 2012, available there because he was recovering from a serious knee injury. Some Colts fans, while they clearly wanted Chapman healthy and on the field, turned his absence into a bit of a punch line regarding the degree of hope being pinned on the nose tackle by some optimists: “Oh, Josh Chapman will fix that when he’s back.” Well he’s back now, working as the starting nose tackle, a position where the team has some depth with guys who have played the spot in a 3-4 front. Chapman can offer a nice boost to a defensive front if he is recovered and durable.

Jacksonville Jaguars: Running back Maurice Jones-Drew is likely to be the team’s top offensive weapon again, provided he makes it all the way back from a serious Lisfranc injury in his right foot that cost him 10 games last season and ultimately required surgery. His extensive rehabilitation is ongoing. This week at OTAs, The Florida Times-Union reported he was running 30-yard dashes at three-quarter speed. "Lately it's been one day on, a day off, two days on, a day off -- it's part of the process," he said. "I'm closer than I think. I just want to take my time and make sure we do it the right way." The Jags need his production. He needs a big year because he's in the final year of his deal.

Tennessee Titans: Right tackle David Stewart broke his right leg in Week 13 against Houston. He’s expected to be fine for camp, and perhaps even the team’s June OTAs and minicamp, but he said recently at a team event that he still had a little bit to go. He’s been a durable guy for them. But they took a look at Eric Winston after the draft. Such a visit can mean nothing, or it can mean they would be willing to put Stewart into a competitive situation. I rank Stewart ahead of middle linebacker Colin McCarthy because the team can be OK with Greg Jones or Moise Fokou as a run-down middle linebacker. If Mike Otto and Byron Stingily wound up the right tackle on a largely rebuilt offensive line, it would create a bigger question mark.

» NFC Eight in the Box: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Who is one highly drafted or highly paid player from each AFC South team who needs to show something during the remainder of the offseason?

Houston Texans: I can’t find a highly paid or highly drafted player who could be in jeopardy. Shiloh Keo was a fifth-round draft pick in 2011 and ranked as a Wade Phillips favorite. Keo played in every game last year, even seeing time as the often-used third safety when Quintin Demps fell out of favor. But Keo is limited, primarily because he’s slow. The Texans replaced Glover Quin with Ed Reed, which doesn’t really affect the bottom of the safety depth chart. Demps is an unsigned free agent who won’t be back. Second-round pick D.J. Swearinger will be the third safety. Keo and Eddie Pleasant are the fourth and fifth safeties now, and the team had five on the roster at the end of last season. But a good player at the back end of another position could prompt them to keep just four, which could put the limited Keo in jeopardy if he doesn’t perform well in camp.

Indianapolis Colts: A team that didn’t have a true nose tackle option last season because of injuries and personnel deficiencies will have a glut this summer if everyone remains healthy. Now they have Aubrayo Franklin and 2012 fifth-rounder Josh Chapman, who’s back from the knee injury that kept him out last year. They also have new fifth-round draft pick Montori Hughes as well as Ricky Jean Francois, a versatile lineman who can man the middle on occasion. I don’t expect Martin Tevaseu to stick, and if the rest of that pack remains healthy, one player who will need to have a solid camp to make his case to stay is Brandon McKinney, who’s due $1 million this year. Brought in as a free agent from Baltimore last year, he too is coming off a serious knee injury. He’s expected to be ready for camp but could have already lost some ground in organized team activities and minicamp.

Jacksonville Jaguars: While the Texans don’t have a highly paid or highly drafted veteran who could be in trouble because they have drafted well and their roster is solid, the Jaguars don’t really have one because they are young and largely unproven. They already parted with an expensive guy who wasn’t worth his contract in strong safety Dawan Landry. Tight and Marcedes Lewis ($4.2 million base this year) and defensive tackle Tyson Alualu ($1.8 million) are overpaid based on recent production, but the Jaguars have money and don’t have promising replacements for either.

Tennessee Titans: I don’t think right tackle David Stewart is in jeopardy. But he’s coming off a down year when he committed too many penalties, is recovering from a broken leg, has an ankle that seems to be a lingering concern and is due a $5 million base salary. I’m not sure Mike Otto or Byron Stingily, the team’s two primary backup tackles, are starting-caliber guys. But the team did visit with free agent Eric Winston, who worked with offensive line coach Bruce Matthews in Houston. If Winston remains on the market and Stewart doesn’t look ready to bounce back, perhaps the Titans would still consider adding Winston and allowing him to slug it out with Stewart. That could be an epic battle.

The Titans had a bad interior offensive line last year, and had to call on more depth than any team has.

Now they’ve added veterans Andy Levitre, Rob Turner, Chris Spencer, first-round pick Chance Warmack and fourth-round pick Brian Schwenke, who went 107th overall.

I had downplayed the odds of the Titans drafting a center. Two things contributed to me being wrong -- Schwenke’s availability and, clearly, the team’s long-term view of Fernando Velasco.

Velasco got and signed a restricted tender worth just over $2 million, but would now appear to qualify as a one-year stopgap starting center at best. He signed it as the offseason program started, so it’s guaranteed.

Still, it would be better for the Titans long-term if Velasco gets beat out by Schwenke right away and the Titans start a line of Michael Roos, Levitre, Schwenke, Warmack and David Stewart, left to right.

Todd McShay just raved about the pick on ESPN, saying Schwenke was the nastiest, toughest offensive linemen he’s seen on tape all season.

Roos and Stewart need to have bounce-back seasons, and with upgraded support between them it should be easier to do.

A pretty big weakness is set to be a major strength, and depth should be solid as well.

Now Jake Locker, Chris Johnson and Shonn Greene need to take advantage of it.

Could the Tennessee Titans have the best offensive line in the NFL in 2013? Matt Williamson, who scouts for ESPN.com, thinks so.

With Alabama guard Chance Warmack drafted to play right guard, the Titans will be, left to right, Michael Roos, Andy Levitre, Fernando Velasco, Warmack and David Stewart.

It’s the best line this team will have had in some time, and it bodes well for Jake Locker, Chris Johnson and Shonn Greene. Johnson just tweeted "THANK GOD."

THANK GOD

— Chris Johnson (@ChrisJohnson28) April 26, 2013

Back with more after talking to Warmack and Titans brass.

Warmack said earlier this month he loved the idea of playing in Tennessee.

» NFC Eight in the Box: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

What’s the ideal first-round scenario for each team?

Houston Texans

The first 26 picks of the draft probably won’t hit a lot on wide receivers, giving the Texans their choice of a large group. West Virginia’s Tavon Austin likely will be gone, and Cordarrelle Patterson of Tennessee will probably be intriguing to some team. Ideally, if all of the other receiver prospects are on the board, there will be one the Texans believe is an ideal complement to Andre Johnson, whether it’s Cal’s athletic Keenan Allen, Tennessee’s burner Justin Hunter, Clemson’s sure-handed DeAndre Hopkins, USC’s daring Robert Woods or Louisiana Tech’s Quinton Patton.

Indianapolis Colts

Beyond Alabama’s Dee Milliner, it’s a quiet first round for cornerbacks and the Colts get Florida State cornerback Xavier Rhodes. He’s got the size, skills and mentality that should make him a great candidate for coach Chuck Pagano to deploy in man coverage against big receivers like Andre Johnson and Justin Blackmon. A cornerback crop of Vontae Davis, Rhodes, Greg Toler and Darius Butler should be significantly better than last year’s, and improved coverage will help the pass rush, where the Colts also need to add an outside backer.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Chiefs take a left tackle at No. 1 and leave the Jaguars to take a pass-rusher like Oregon’s Dion Jordan or BYU’s Ziggy Ansah. Although Jacksonville has gaping holes at right tackle and cornerback, the prospects at those positions do not seem as valuable as the draft's top pass-rushers. And the Jaguars have had pass-rush deficiencies for years. Coach Gus Bradley has a defensive background, and a premier player who can put heat on quarterbacks is an absolute priority.

Tennessee Titans

The top nine teams in the draft lay off guards, or if one is drafted before the Titans are on the clock, it’s UNC’s Jonathan Cooper. That leaves Alabama’s powerful Chance Warmack there at No. 10 for the Titans, who draft him to play right guard beside right tackle David Stewart. Tennessee pledged a revamp of the offensive line to maximize the opportunities for quarterback Jake Locker and running back Chris Johnson. After the addition of free agent Andy Levitre as the left guard, Warmack would finish the project.

Mel Kiper Jr. goes three rounds deep in a mock draft today, just eight days removed from the start of the real thing.

You can peruse the team-by-team results or follow his draft in order.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Rd. 1 (2) OT Luke Joeckel, Texas A&M
Rd. 2 (33) QB Matt Barkley, USC
Rd. 3 (64) CB Johnthan Banks, Mississippi St.

Kiper’s analysis: I know this isn't the biggest need on the board, but given where Jacksonville is from a personnel standpoint, if the best player in the draft is available at the No. 2 pick -- and my current left tackle is potentially gone after this year -- I'm taking the guy. This is a franchise that has taken the guy it wants and eschewed great value too many times in recent years, but that's not the case here. Take Joeckel, get better at tackle, do a better job of protecting the QB and whether I stick with Blaine Gabbert or let the next guy take over, I've at least given him a reasonable chance to succeed. That next guy might be the second-round pick.

My thoughts: Kiper has Detroit moving up to No. 1 for cornerback Dee Milliner, which leaves Joeckel available for the Jaguars. The Jaguars need a sure thing, and this is a tackle rated as a sure thing, so I don't think you factor Eugene Monroe into it too much.


Tennessee Titans

Rd. 1 (10) G Jonathan Cooper, North Carolina
Rd. 2 (40) WR Justin Hunter, Tennessee
Rd. 3 (70) DE Alex Okafor, Texas
Rd. 3 (97) DE John Simon, Ohio St.

Kiper’s analysis: The way the board breaks, Cooper becomes the best value at a need spot. With (Ezekiel) Ansah going to Buffalo at No. 8, I look to improve my other guard position. With Cooper and free-agent acquisition Andy Levitre, I could have one of the better guard tandems in the league. Shonn Greene is on the roster because there's going to be more of an emphasis on power running, and Cooper helps accomplish that.

My thoughts: I don’t believe they’d prefer Cooper to Chance Warmack if both are on the board as they are here. Cooper may rate as more athletic, but the Titans got their athletic, pulling guard in Levitre. If they go guard I think they’d like a power tandem in pairing Warmack with right tackle David Stewart. Hunter seems like good value and can help them get past Kenny Britt after his contract runs out. I don’t expect two of the four top picks to be spent on one position as Kiper does here in the third-round at defensive end.

Indianapolis Colts

Rd. 1 (24) CB Desmond Trufant, Washington
Rd. 3 (86) OLB Trevardo Williams, Connecticut

Kiper’s analysis: Vontae Davis is a decent starter at CB when he's playing up to his full capability, but Greg Toler is a fringy starter. If the board breaks this way, I'd be getting below average value at outside linebacker and guard right here, and Cordarrelle Patterson and Tavon Austin are off the board. (Also, wide receiver is a need, but not a desperate one.) Where I end up is with Trufant, a cornerback with a diverse skill set. He can work in man or zone and offers defenses some flexibility.

My thoughts: Versatility is good, but ultimately if they have sufficient man corners, the ability of their DBs to play zone shouldn’t matter a great deal in Chuck Pagano’s system. Davis, Toler and Darius Butler are not enough as the top three so if they can land a top corner at No. 24 that will be great. Kiper sees Williams as a guy who can help the pass rush quickly and they need that badly, too.

Houston Texans

Rd. 1 (27) OT Menelik Watson, Florida St.
Rd. 2 (57) WR Quinton Patton, Louisiana Tech
Rd. 3 (89) LB Steve Beauharnais, Rutgers
Rd. 3 (95) FB Lonnie Pryor, Florida St.

Kiper’s analysis: The Texans need a right tackle, and Watson's grade fits this draft range for me. He's a great athlete, and could certainly challenge to start early. I know some NFL personnel folks who think he could move inside, but in either instance I'm looking for help up front. This offensive system starts there, and you need a nimble guy for the scheme.

My thoughts: I wouldn’t object to these first three picks, though I do not expect the Texans to go offensive line in the first round. As for Pryor, Kiper says part of the rationale for putting him in Houston is that Greg Jones “isn’t a true fullback.” I respectively disagree with that so long as Jones is healthy.

On the evening of Dec. 16, 2013, in the press box of Reliant Stadium following a 29-17 Texans win over the Colts, I considered J.J. Watt’s ridiculously good game and wrote this:

For years, AFC South teams looked at how the Colts operated with Peyton Manning and drafted with an emphasis on running backs who could help them play keep-away and defensive backs who increased their chances of slowing one of the NFL's best quarterbacks.

(Andrew) Luck may wind up dictating some of the same things.

But the three teams of the AFC South looking to end a two-year reign by the Texans would be wise to raise the value they put on interior offensive linemen going forward.

"You need elite offensive line play to block elite defensive linemen like Watt with any consistency," Colts general manager Ryan Grigson said. "If you don't play near-perfect from a technique standpoint, he will eat you alive. Six-foot-six, 290 with motor and instincts. A true game wrecker."

Watt is hardly the sole reason guards were a premium position for the Tennessee Titans to address as the 2013 league year started. They were thinking far more about Jake Locker and Chris Johnson as they signed Andy Levitre from Buffalo right as free agency opened on Tuesday.

But twice a year, and conceivably again in the playoffs, to have success against Houston the Titans are going to need for Locker and Johnson to be well protected from Watt, the 2012 defensive player of the year who’s likely to be a terror in the AFC South for a good while.

Left tackle Michael Roos, Levitre, who is expected to play left guard, and right tackle David Stewart are all very solid linemen. Center Fernando Velasco is more than functional if he’s part of a good group.

I’d bet, at worst, the Titans will wind up with Kentucky’s Larry Warford -- widely regarded as the third-best guard prospect -- in the draft to play on the right side.

Refortified on the interior, the Titans will be a lot less likely to allow Watt to notch four sacks, two batted passes, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery like he did against them in 2012.

» NFC Season Wraps: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Five things to know and my all-division team.

Division MVP: J.J. Watt, defensive end, Houston Texans. I’ve never seen someone so disruptive up front. The guy’s got the complete package. He’s incredibly instinctive, knowing when to stop rushing and pull up, looking to bat down a pass. He also understands the lane into which a quarterback might be looking to throw. He simply manhandles some blockers -- swimming past them, bowling them backward, speeding around them or knifing between two guys. Some blockers have had absolutely no answer for him, and even if a team tried to take plays as far away from him as possible, he often tracked those plays and got involved in stopping them.

Early in the season he talked about wanting to redefine the 3-4 end position, which hasn’t traditionally been a stat position. Later Antonio Smith pointed out how often Watt is really lining up at tackle. He’s not likely to win MVP based on what the league’s best quarterbacks and Adrian Peterson (despite my thinking that the running back is not worthy of the award) are doing. But his ability to push an offense backward so often has been a tremendous factor in an excellent season for the Texans. The other three teams would be wise to reinforce their offensive lines, because it’s reasonable to expect Watt will be a handful for protections and run blocking for years to come.

Biggest disappointment: The pass rushes of the Jaguars and the Titans required offseason attention. Neither team did enough to find a way to disrupt opposing quarterbacks consistently. The Jaguars go into the final game of the season with the worst sacks-per-play average in the NFL and a total of only 18 sacks. Jacksonville’s big addition was second-round pick Andre Branch, who couldn’t hold onto a starting job and finished with one sack in 12 games and is on IR. The Jags played nine games in which they produced either one sack or no sacks. Tennessee has 32 sacks and is close to the middle of the pack. But it’s not enough for a defense with a lot of kids in the back seven and bad safety play. Tennessee got better results than Jacksonville from its newcomer, free-agent signee Kamerion Wimbley (five sacks), but he didn’t offer the game-to-game and play-to-play threat Tennessee so desperately needed.

Joe Cullen’s been in place for three seasons as Jacksonville’s defensive line coach. He’s a good coach and motivator, but he did not get the production the defense had to have. His counterpart in Nashville, Tracy Rocker, came from Auburn in 2011 and hasn’t proved to be an effective NFL position coach. Pass-rush coach Keith Millard was brought in to help the rush and the blitz, but it’s hard to see a major difference as a result of his presence. The Titans got shredded by the best quarterbacks they faced, from Tom Brady on opening day to Aaron Rodgers last week.

Offensive player of the year, rookie of the year, fourth-quarter player of the year: Andrew Luck has thrown too many interceptions in his rookie season. His stat line is hardly cause for a parade. He dug himself some holes. But leading his team to 10 wins, seven of them in comeback fashion, and getting into the playoffs does a lot to reduce the importance of those turnovers. He showed a great talent for climbing out of those holes. He was capable of digesting everything the first time around, handling Bruce Arians’ very vertical offense, the absence of coach Chuck Pagano, an often ineffective defense and a less-than-watertight offensive line with aplomb.

Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson have strong cases for the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award, which may never have been so hotly contested. We may see all three rookie quarterbacks in the playoffs. In the AFC South, Luck is the quarterback who was asked to do the most from the start, and he was the quarterback who did the most. Rookie receiver T.Y. Hilton is already a good player for the Colts. If you took Hilton and put him on the Titans or the Jaguars, how would he fare? Nowhere near as well as he fared playing with Luck in their first years in the NFL, I feel certain.

Worst injuries: The Jaguars really suffered because Daryl Smith and Clint Session were absent from the linebacking corps. Smith just returned last week from a groin injury and Session never made it back from multiple concussions suffered in 2011, his first season in Jacksonville. The corners all took turns missing time, and safety Dwight Lowery played only nine games. The loss of playmakers really dented a defense that plummeted in the rankings from 2011 to 2012.

Tennessee’s offensive line was not good enough, and revamping the interior needs to be a major offseason priority. The Titans lost starting center Eugene Amano in the preseason and right guard Leroy Harris halfway through the year. For the last quarter of the season, they were also down left guard Steve Hutchinson and right tackle David Stewart. It’s hard for them to give Jake Locker a real chance playing behind a line with four reserves. Still, he could have shown far more in his chances when he was healthy.

The division’s two worst teams lost a lot of time with their young quarterbacks, too. Locker missed five games with a shoulder injury, and Blaine Gabbert played through a shoulder injury before adding a forearm issue that ended his season after 10 games. Looking ahead to 2013, the status of each as a long-term answer is not what it once was.

Coaches of the year: Pagano and Arians of the Colts. It's been a storybook season for Indianapolis, which rallied around Pagano. He learned he had leukemia after just three games and handed the team to Arians while he underwent treatment. His fight gave the team a purpose, and it responded by playing better than the sum of its parts. Behind the scenes, Pagano was more involved than many might imagine.

But it was Arians conveying the messages, overseeing the game-planning, leading and, as offensive coordinator, calling the plays. He did a masterful job in overseeing the team, the offense and the rookie quarterback. Now, with Pagano back in place, he’ll drift into the background. He’s 60, which will work against his getting a head-coaching job. His work, however, should earn him consideration for some of the jobs that are about to open. That was quite an audition. And just about every team hiring a coach will need a quarterback developer.

ALL-DIVISION TEAM

I want to emphasize one thing about this All-AFC South Team. Wade Smith is measured against the division’s left guards, not against the rest of the selections. There are miles between Smith as a player and Watt as a player, and if we measure a guard against a defensive end who’s the division MVP, things look askew.

One I’ll get crushed for: Many of you argued with me on Twitter when I wrote that I would take Luck over Matt Schaub as the third Pro Bowl quarterback, so I am sure you won’t like the choice of quarterback here. Luck struggled more than Schaub, for sure. But he was asked to do far more than Schaub and produced seven comeback wins, leading a team that’s really lacking in talent to an improbable playoff spot. There were no expectations for the Colts, and Luck and the team delivered. There were huge expectations on the Texans, and Schaub and the team delivered. My gut continues to prefer Luck’s year. That doesn’t mean I dislike what Schaub’s done.

Just misses: Titans defensive end Derrick Morgan, Texans outside linebacker Brooks Reed, Jaguars cornerback Derek Cox, Texans quarterback Matt Schaub.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Thoughts on the Texans’ 24-10 win over the Titans at LP Field:

What it means: The 11-1 Texans secured a spot in the playoffs and continue to rank as the favorite to secure home-field advantage throughout. The Titans lost to Houston for a second time this season and, at 4-8, they can’t match last season’s 9-7 mark or post a winning record this season.

What I liked, Texans: They didn’t skip a beat despite a big shuffling at linebacker because of injuries and they were able to endure losses at cornerback, as well. Opportunistically, they took advantage of great field position provided by multiple takeaways for short scoring drives. They got a big, tone-setting play on their first possession when Lestar Jean took a mid-range throw to the left sideline, watched Michael Griffin miss an attempted kill shot, and raced 54-yards for a touchdown that made it 7-0.

What I didn’t like, Titans: Receivers got little separation for most of the game and let a number of catches go through their hands, including one to Jared Cook that would have been a touchdown and gotten the Titans within range in the fourth quarter. Jake Locker didn’t get a great deal of help, but he wasn’t accurate, throwing three picks. Two of those interceptions were deflected and another Nate Washington let slip through his hands. Locker also lost two fumbles, took six sacks and didn’t show a lot of feel for defenders being in his throwing lanes ready to get hands on his passes.

Injury issues, Texans: Already thinned out at cornerback and playing without Johnathan Joseph and Alan Ball, the Texans saw Brice McCain go down with a left foot injury. Tight end Garrett Graham left the game with a head injury.

Injury issues, Titans: For Tennessee, right tackle David Stewart suffered a fractured right leg and the team’s third tackle, Mike Otto, is hardly the mauler Stewart can be. Left guard Steve Hutchinson was knocked out with a knee injury, though he returned briefly when needed. Hutchinson’s replacement, Kevin Matthews committed penalties that washed away a couple of big plays for the Titans.

What’s next: The Texans play on "Monday Night Football" in New England in a game that could determine who hosts the AFC Championship Game. The Titans play at Indianapolis, hoping to avenge their loss to the Colts in Nashville earlier this season.

» NFC Midseason Teams: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Don’t look down.

First let me explain. The 2012 All-AFC South midseason team is built on an undulating foundation. Over on the left of the offense, for example, left tackle Duane Brown is on super solid footing even though the division’s three other left tackles -- Michael Roos, Eugene Monroe and Anthony Castonzo -- are all quite good.

Reggie Wayne, Arian Foster, J.J. Watt, Paul Posluszny and Danieal Manning all made it here without much debate from this panel of one.

Barring two awful games clearly impacted by a groin injury, Johnathan Joseph would be a no-brainer, too.

Others position were much tougher.

Winston Justice has pass-protected well, but the Colts' right tackle wins by default because David Stewart has had penalty problems, the Texans are playing two guys and Cameron Bradfield in Jacksonville has not impressed me.

The ground beneath some other spots is significantly lower. Overall four teams provide a small pool and ours includes one very bad and one pretty bad team.

I expect the quarterback choice will produce objections from Texans. Matt Schaub is having a fine and efficient season. But Andrew Luck has been extraordinary, leading a much less talented offense and team to improbable playoff contention.

Executive decisions:

I was tempted to run a three-wide offense, but I went two-tight. I’m not a big fullback guy. Craig Stevens is a legitimate blocking tight end who’s helped sparked the Titans’ run-game revival.

I like to use a 12-man defense to account for two 4-3s and two 3-4s, but finding it thin at defensive tackle, I went where the talent took me. Jurrell Casey is a good player who's been stunted by injuries.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The beat up Tennessee Titans offensive line only has one lineup change, and we knew that was coming on Friday. Right guard Leroy Harris (right knee) is out, and veteran backup Deuce Lutui will play for the Titans for the first time.

Right tackle David Stewart’s got a bad right knee, left tackle Michael Roos is two weeks removed from an appendectomy and center Fernando Velasco was just cleared coming off a concussion.

But they are all in the starting lineup.

It’s not a good day to be beat up on the offensive line, as the Bears' defensive front is a tough matchup.

The complete list of inactives follows.

Titans

• QB Jake Locker
• LB Patrick Bailey
• G Leroy Harris
• T Byron Stingily
• WR Lavelle Hawkins
• LB Will Witherspoon
• DT Karl Klug

Bears

• WR Alshon Jeffery
• WR Dane Sanzenbacher
• G-C Edwin Williams
• DT Matt Toeaina
• TE Brody Eldridge
• DT Amobi Okoye
• DE Cheta Ozougwu

Interesting stuff from ESPN Stats & Information out of the Titans' blowout loss at Minnesota.

From 2008 to 2011, Chris Johnson had four games in which he rushed for negative yards outside the tackles. He’s had three already this year.

Yards per game outside the tackles for Johnson:

• 2012: minus-5.0 (NFL worst)
• 2011: 23.3
• 2010: 28.6
• 2009: 48.0
• 2008: 28.7

These numbers speak to two things: Johnson is not as quick to get out there and get around the edge as he used to be. And tackles Michael Roos and David Stewart are not run blocking out there as well as they’ve done it in the past.

On to the Titans' continued poor tackling.

Minnesota receiver Percy Harvin caught eight passes for 108 yards and a touchdown Sunday.

Five of his catches for 35 yards and a touchdown came on throws at or behind the line of scrimmage. Entering Sunday, Harvin led the NFL in receptions, yards and yards after the catch on such passes.

HOUSTON -- Thoughts on the Texans' 38-14 win over the Titans at Reliant Stadium:

What it meant: The Texans are 4-0 for the first time and continue to make a case for being the AFC’s best team. They let the Titans stay in it through halftime, but then found the sort of big plays that put away an inferior opponent after intermission. The Titans are 1-3 a quarter of the way through their season.

What I liked, Texans: J.J. Watt continued to play dominant football on the defensive line, with two sacks, a fumble recovery and the sort of play that helped frustrate Titans right tackle David Stewart into a couple personal foul penalties. Danieal Manning grabbed an off-target pass from Matt Hasselbeck that was tipped by Taylor Thompson and weaved 55-yard for a beautiful interception return.

What I didn’t like, Titans: They really are a poor tackling team. Andre Johnson stiff-armed Michael Griffin off of him on the second play from scrimmage, and Griffin looked like he was playing flag football. On Owen Daniels’ 28-yard touchdown, Akeem Ayers dove fruitlessly after him before he easily slipped a weak attempt by Jordan Babineaux. And those are only two snapshots.

What I liked, Titans: Chris Johnson re-emerged. Just when you’re ready to give up, he does some darting and dashing and shows about all of the qualities that made him such a dangerous player early in his career. Where’s that been? Yes, some of it came late and didn't mean much, but it was a drastic improvement.

What I wonder: Boo whenever you like. But the Texans were still a 3-0 team with a seven-point lead early in the third quarter when the Reliant Stadium crowd was unsatisfied with play-calling deep in Houston’s own end. It didn’t take long for Houston to find the plays to put the Titans away. So maybe a bit more patience would have been more appropriate?

The big injury concern: Jake Locker suffered a left shoulder injury when he got slammed by an unblocked Glover Quin on a first-quarter blitz and the next we saw him he was in jeans on the bench wearing a sling. Matt Hasselbeck sparked the Titans briefly, but the quarterback wasn’t going to matter in the big picture on this day.

What’s next: The Texans will play at the Jets on "Monday Night Football," which should give the hype meter a nice boost. Tennessee plays at Minnesota in a game that looked like it should be a win when the schedule came out but is far from any sort of certainty now.

Is Titans left tackle Michael Roos maintaining his typical high level of play?

Rookie pass-rusher Chandler Jones had a big first game for the Patriots Sunday in New England’s 34-13 victory at LP Field. He was going against Roos, long-regarded as a top-tier left tackle who doesn’t get enough credit.

But during the preseason, I heard from Mike Tanier, now of Sports on Earth, that Roos might be starting to slip. And his effort Sunday, while just one game, suggested there could be something there.

We’ve typically put the Titans offensive-line problems on the interior, particularly center Eugene Amano and guard Leroy Harris. Tennessee looked at a bunch of free-agent centers but stood pat, and Amano was hurt early in camp, lost for the season and replaced by Fernando Velasco. Harris flipped from left guard to right guard to accommodate the arrival of free agent Steve Hutchinson.

Have Roos and right tackle David Stewart gotten a bit of a pass?

I’m not ready to say so yet, but the tackles were not discernibly better than the interior in a bad day on Sunday.

No matter how poorly Chris Johnson ran, the run blocking was not sufficient anywhere.

“As far as run blocking in general, we weren’t good enough, and that’s the whole group,” coach Mike Munchak said. “We weren’t consistently good enough. Anytime you run for 15 yards, you’re not going to say anyone is blocking well in the run game. When we ran well, we blocked well, and we’ve got to do better next week.”

Quarterback Jake Locker was sacked twice and hit three times and I didn’t feel like he was under much steady pressure, though Jones was a handful. He beat Roos to strip Locker near the Titans goal line, and rookie linebacker Dont'a Hightower scooped it and scored from 6 yards out to put New England up 14-3.

“Jones is a good player, I think he’s going to be real good,” Roos said. “He’s tall, very athletic, able to use his size. There is a reason they drafted him in the first round.

“He’s a starting end in the NFL, so any guy is going to give you some trouble, There were some tougher blocks for me. The one he got my hands and got around me and stripped Jake. That was unfortunate, I thought I had him. It happened so quick. On my part, that’s just me not getting my head down in the play and trying to stay with it.”

Munchak said there is nothing to the idea that Roos’ game could be starting to tail off.

“Yeah, the thing is, we threw the ball (43) times,” Munchak said. “… I think he blocked well for most of the game. The life of an offensive lineman is you get beat one time, you had a bad day. He got beat once for a big play, which normally, he very rarely gets beat. So again, the kid made a nice play on him, a big play for them and it definitely factored in the game, especially at that point in the game, early in the game.”

Been pondering doing this for some time, and hit a now-or-never point today.

I decided to move forward for two reasons – it forced me to crystallize some preseason opinions, and I feel certain it will generate some debate.

So here’s our first preseason All-AFC South team.

Let’s be clear on criteria: I’ve combined past performance and my expectations for 2012 to create this team. In some spots, I relied more on one than the other.

Defensively, I picked 12 guys, with four linemen and four linebackers. It’s the only way to be fair considering we have two 4-3s and two 3-4s. And as we’ve got teams that start two tight ends and teams that start two backs, but I went with my favored two-tight end set. (Going three wide would have been pushing it, right?)

Also let’s acknowledge it’s an uneven playing field.

Titans right tackle David Stewart, for example, has minimal competition in my eyes considering the three other guys who will start at the position on Sunday: inexperienced Cameron Bradfield for Jacksonville and Derek Newton for Houston, and shaky veteran Winston Justice in Indianapolis.

Meanwhile, cornerbacks like Jerraud Powers of the Colts, Jason McCourty of the Titans and Derek Cox of the Jaguars couldn’t find their way in because the pool at the position is pretty good.

So here’s the team. Blast away.