AFC South
1.) Find secondary receiving options:
DeAndre 'Nuke' Hopkins is incredible. He has to be, though, because the rest of the receiving options are really average, if not worse. Cecil Shorts is ostensibly the #2. Nate Washington, who is somehow still in the league, is the #3. They have no real TE. The Texans somehow managed to score 300+ points despite all of this, but God forbid Nuke Hopkins gets hurt - which it isn't that hard to imagine given that they throw to him 200 times. They need to focus on this area in the draft, and maybe look at some of the FA Tight Ends.
2.) Kick the tires with Peyton Manning:
Yes, I'm serious. They're drafting late enough they probably aren't going to find a savior who can contribute in Year 1. Brian Hoyer is terrible. Manning may be as well, but there are at least some reasons why he may be decent in Houston. First he gets to be indoors in a dome. Then he gets another team with a good defense and decent running game. Finally, he gets all the Manning Classic games, a home-and-home with the Colts and trips to Foxboro and Denver.
Indianapolis
1.) Figure out the base offense:
One of my biggest gripes with the Pep Hamilton offense was he wanted to do everything, and by that I mean he wanted to go five wide on one play and power on the next. The Colts offense rarely had any flow, and they weren't great at any one thing other than Andrew Luck at his best in 2014. They have so many offensive players that Pep couldn't service them all enough, so he decided to not serve any of them enough. The amount of 3-TEs they used to play was staggering. With Andre Johnson basically gone, I want them to play one game where they go 3-1-1 all day. Just focus on your actualy best guys: Hilton, Moncrief and the guy you picked #1 last year in Dorsett.
2.) Draft a pass rusher, any pass rusher:
Given that apart from Robert Mathis's miracle 2013 season, the Colts have not been able to feature a pass rush at any point in the Pagano era. Given that, it is actually pretty incredible they've been able to be as mediocre on defense as they have. That is a credit to Pagano the coach, but scheme on defense only works to a point - witness the litany of top QBs to blitz the Colts. They need to draft a pass rusher; and not a weird project one who could potentially be the next Paul Kruger, but an actual pass rusher.
Jacksonville
1.) Fill out the offense to make it more balanced:
If you look just at the normal stats, it seems like Blake Bortles had a good season - I mean he had 33 TDs! Stats can be deceiving. The 35 passing TDs was countered with single-digit rushing TDs. It is nice Bortles showed great ability in the red zone, but that is not consistent. They need a more o-lineman and another running back to complement the inconsistent, erratic backs they have now. Don't believe the 35 TDs, Bortles still needs support and has a long way to go.
2.) Assume Dante Fowler Jr., is not the solution, make sure there's a Plan B:
The biggest issue facing the Jaguars is a lack of pass rush - that's really one of the issues facing this entire division aside from Houston. Dante Fowler Jr. can be a nice dose of youth and skill and talent into helping solve that problem. The #3 pick from last year should be fully healed from his ACL tear last year. That said, we can't completely assume he's going to be fully ready to contribute. Pass rush is a need even if Fowler is great. The Jaguars have no larger need on defense than pass rush, with or without Fowler coming back 100%.
Tennessee
1.) Don't try to do too much too quickly
The future of the Titans basicaly rests in Marcus Mariota becoming the player all thought he could. That said, let him develop naturally. There will be a lot of pressure to give him a great line or a running game, or have him become a 'pocket' passer. Just let the guy become the player he had the potential to be. I actually want to restress the running game part. Mike Mularkey has already expressed that he wants to build a smash-mouth team. Don't fall for that Mike. It really isn't needed in the modern NFL Let Mariota play, don't handcuff or restrict him, or true to over-do it with expensive FA personnel.
2.) Spend wisely on defense, short length, high value
The Titans have a ton of cap room. They will be able to shop at the luxury department, but they should take heed from what the Colts were and were not able to do with that same luxury recently. The Colts in the past four years have signed dozens of Free Agents, including some high salary players. Some have worked. Most haven't. That is not surprising given the general value from Free Agency. However, what the Colts did smartly was sign to shorter length deals. They were able to get out of them for most right at the time when they need to start spending internally. Free Agency is a team building method is not smart. Making sure you can get out of the misses, though, is incredibly smart.
AFC West
1.) Don't overpay Osweiler:
Now, what that really means in practice is don't pay him to be something he hasn't shown himself to be. They shouldn't easily let him go; certainly Osweiler showed flashes in his 7 games. He also showed some negatives, like inaccuracy and a penchant to hold the ball too long and take too many sacks. He may command premium starter money, and he probably should given his leverage; but the Broncos have built a type of team that cannot afford a QB paid more than his value much longer. It is one of the riskiest moves to move away from a starting QB, but it is also a risk to overpay one.
2.) Don't be afraid to move on from Ryan Clady:
I'm pretty sure that the Broncos are planning to do this, but it can be easy for the Broncos to buy into this line of thinking: 1 - we have a bad o-line; 2 - we have an all-pro coming back to play LT; 3 - problem solved. Ryan Clady has now missed essentially all of the 2013 and 2015 seasons. The player he was in 2014 was fine, but it was nowhere near the all-pro he was in 2009-2012. Ryan Clady can be cut rather easily and the Broncos can save a lot of money by doing so. They have to fix the o-line, but a 30-year old past star coming off two major injuries is not necessarily the answer.
Kansas City
1.) Figure out which of your defensive free agents is going to age well:
Basically, the whole entire defense of the Chiefs other than Justin Houston. This is not an exaggeration. Eric Berry, Sean Smith, Drrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Mike DeVito and Husain Abdulla are all free agents. With that many contracts coming off of the books they are going to have enough money to sign some of them, but these are all players between 27-32, generally any long-term deal at this stage is a huge risk. They really have to do a good job of deciding which of these players has enough left to warrant a deal.
2.) Try to turn the running back surplus into fixing the receivers
Jeremy Maclin turned out to be a really nice signing, finally giving the Chiefs a real #1 receiver. Of course, the Chiefs have no #2 receiver apart from some middling prospects. The Chiefs do have a spate of running backs, from the great but injured (Jamaal Charles), to the old star backup (Knile Davis), to the new guys (Charcandrik West & Spencer Ware). No team needs four viable running backs. Trades aren't really a thing, but the Chiefs could maybe try to turn two of those guys into a reasonable #2 or #3 receiver.
Oakland
1.) Don't go crazy in Free Agency; the answers are not all there and are not needed by 2016
The Raiders have geniune hope for the first time in a while. And not in the odd hope they had coming into 2011 after a freak 8-8 season in 2010. This is real hope. Derek Carr had a great season. By most statistical measures, he was a Top-10, borderline Top-5 performer in 2015. Amari Cooper is a future star. They have loads of talent and a decent o-line. The defense needs talent. The Raiders have a ton of money. But what they shouldn't do is go all-in on free agency to drive talent for 2016-17. Just build the way they have. Given Reggie McKenzie's past in Green Bay, it seems reasonable the Raiders will continue with this short-length Free Agency mindset, which is what they should do.
2.) Go heavy on defense in the draft:
This goes hand-in-hand with the 1st step, but this draft should be 80% defense. The Raiders have their QB, they have a #1 WR, they have a decent set of alternate weapons and running backs (including a very nice bounceback season from Crabtree), and the o-line is strong. The defense, after retirements, is basically Khalil Mack (the next Von Miller) and 10 other guys. They need to start pumping that area of the team with as many bodies as possible that are young. Defense, defense, defense. The Raiders need to do what the Broncos did in the draft in the Manning era.
San Diego
1.) Look again into trading Philip Rivers
The Chargers will be moving to Los Angeles (more to come on that). This is not happening this year, it may not happen next year. By the time it happens, Rivers will be at least 36. He's already regressed to the point that he can't drag the sorry team to anything past 9-7. Rivers deserves better, but for the Chargers, they should set the reset button now. I understand the push to be competitive the first year in Los Angeles, but instead of miring their way to 6-10 with Rivers, they can go a more exciting 6-10 with a young rookie QB.
2.) Just move to LA already
Like seriously, just rip the band-aid off completely.
