Every NFL team has played at least one preseason game now, so it’s time to take stock and spotlight the biggest emerging storylines across the league. Here’s the latest on every AFC South team.
Starting with the Hall of Fame Game and continuing with a full slate of preseason games last Thursday through Saturday, NFL fans got their first taste of live action since the Super Bowl.
And if third-string quarterbacks balling out is what gets one revved up for the season, then the start of preseason play delivered in a big way.
While most of the league’s stars are mere spectators this time of year, there is still plenty to evaluate and learn from these games — and also the continuing developments from training camps.
As we go division by division, let’s dive into the top performances and most compelling storylines from every AFC South team.
Houston Texans
Week 1 Preseason Result: 27-7 L to Los Angeles Chargers last Thursday
Top Performers: Tight end Marlin Klein and wide receiver Jared Wayne
Klein, a second-round pick this year out of Michigan, had the biggest reception of the day on a 31-yard pickup down the seam from backup QB Davis Mills.
And Wayne, an undrafted free agent in 2023 who has spent three years on the Texans’ practice squad, caught the team’s lone touchdown while making 3 receptions for 17 yards.
By all accounts, Wayne has impressed in training camp, but he has an uphill climb to making the roster, even with Jayden Higgins sustaining a torn ACL in practice Tuesday.
Emerging Training Camp Storyline: Texans lose Higgins to torn ACL, prompting DeAndrea Hopkins rumors
The big news of the week was Higgins’ torn ACL, which is a big loss after the 2025 second-round pick had 41 catches for 525 yards and 6 TDs as a rookie.
This latest setback comes just as the Texans were looking at the potential of having their top receivers all together after Tank Dell missed all of last season recovering from a devastating knee injury that ended his 2024 campaign.
The Texans would still have a dynamic top tandem in Nico Collins (three-straight 1,000-yard seasons) and Dell, if the latter can return to his prior form like when he caught 47 passes for 709 yards and 7 TDs in 11 games as a rookie.
The Texans also have Xavier Hutchinson (35-428-3 last year) and Jaylin Noel (26-292-2 as a rookie).
Nonetheless, the rumor mill has already fired up about whether franchise legend DeAndre Hopkins might be a fit to return.
Hopkins is the NFL’s active leader in receiving yards (if he plays this season) with 13,295 in 13 seasons, including the first seven with Houston. He joined Georgia Tech’s coaching staff this month but made clear he was not retired from the NFL. Then he posted this to social media on Wednesday, prompting fans to connect the meaning to a potential Texans return.
Indianapolis Colts
Week 1 Preseason Result: 13-13 tie with New England Patriots last Thursday
Top Performers: Tight end Will Mallory and quarterback Anthony Richardson
Let’s start with Richardson, who has had a precipitous fall the last couple years from being viewed as the Colts’ franchise quarterback to losing his job to Daniel Jones last year to many questioning his future altogether in Indianapolis this year with the feeling that he’s simply worn out his welcome there.
Richardson started the game split QB work with Riley Leonard in the preseason opener, completing 11 of 14 passes for 145 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT while rushing 6 times for 53 yards, a score and a lost fumble. (Leonard was 10 of 21 for 89 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT.)
First, Richardson’s pick went off a receiver’s hands and is excusable. The fumble, at the end of a nice rushing gain, not so much.
But Richardson made a lot of nice throws and showed the dual-threat speed that made the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. This game was a reminder of his raw talents, and if the Colts do look to cut ties with him there will be another team eager to try to revive his career.
As for Mallory, a fifth-round pick out of Miami in 2023, he has seemingly regressed each season with the Colts from 26 catches for 207 yards as a rookie to 4 catches or 29 yards in 10 games in 2024 down to just 1 reception in two games last year (including time missed due to a lung issue).
So it was a notable sight to see Mallory lead the Colts in receiving yards in the preseason opener, hauling in 6 of his 7 targets for 80 yards.
The Colts have one of the top tight ends in the league in second-year standout Tyler Warren and also have veterans Mo-Alie Cox (who has spent his whole eight-year career so far in Indianapolis) and 2022 sixth-rounder Drew Ogletree, but Mallory’s upside seems to justify not only a roster spot but a role in 2026.
Emerging Training Camp Storyline: Colts sign veteran Keenan Allen for much-needed WR help
The Colts finally made a move we’ve been expecting for months as they simply had to add a veteran wide receiver to their thin depth chart.
They finally budged and signed Keenan Allen on Monday to a one-year deal with up to $8.32 million, per reports.
Allen, who turned 34 years old in April, has 1,055 receptions for 12,051 yards and 70 TDs over 13 seasons with all but one of those spent with the Chargers, including his return to Los Angeles last year when he caught 81 passes for 777 yards and 4 TDs. Allen is fifth among active players in career receiving yards (assuming the leader on that list, DeAndre Hopkins, latches on with a team this year).
The Colts broke the bank to keep wide receiver Alec Pierce from leaving as a free agent, but in so doing had to ship former WR1 Michael Pittman Jr. off to Pittsburgh for a late-round pick swap to save money. That left Pierce, who led the NFL in yards per reception each of the last two years but has never even had 50 catches in a season, and fourth-year receiver Josh Downs (58-566-4 last year) as the only real difference-makers on the depth chart.
And Pierce has missed the entire preseason recovering from ankle surgery, with no clear return date known, though the Colts continue to assert he’ll be ready for the regular season.
“Alec’s in a great spot right now,” coach Shane Steichen said this week, per the Indianapolis Star. “He’s doing really good. I watched him work out yesterday in the indoor. He’s moving around really good. Hopefully, we have him back soon.”
Steichen, who was on the Chargers’ staff from 2014-2020 including as offensive coordinator at the end, has that prior relationship with Allen and said the team had been talking to the veteran throughout the summer, asserting that the signing was not a reflection of concerns about Pierce’s availability.
Allen can play inside and outside and gives the Colts a reliable possession receiver on top of simply much-needed depth.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Week 1 Preseason Result: 24-10 W over New Orleans Saints on Saturday
Top Performer: Running J’Mari Taylor
Taylor, an undrafted rookie out of Virginia, got a long look in the Texans’ preseason opener, rushing 22 times for 78 yards and a TD. His score came in a goal line situation as he twisted away from tacklers and into the end zone.
Taylor figures to be looking at landing on the practice squad (in Jacksonville or elsewhere) as the Jags have a crowded top of the running back depth chart with projected starter Bhayshul Tuten, free agent pickup Chris Rodriguez Jr. and second-year back LaQuint Allen, who has been ruled out for the rest of camp with a soft tissue injury.
The Jags also have 11-year NFL veteran Ameer Abdullah and six-year veteran DeeJay Dallas in camp.
Emerging Training Camp Storyline: What will Travis Hunter’s role be for Jags?
Travis Hunter, the former Heisman Trophy winner and No. 2 overall pick in the draft last year, has maintained that he wants to be a full-time two-way player in the NFL like he was in college.
After totaling just 28 catches for 298 yards and 1 TD as a rookie on offense, and 15 tackles with 3 passes defended at cornerback in seven games before season-ending knee surgery, questions about his future role have mounted.
Per ESPN’s tally as of Tuesday, Hunter had played 178 snaps during 11v11 periods in training camp (minus the joint practice) with 116 on defense, 61 on offense and one on special teams. On Tuesday, he played exclusively at cornerback.
“When he’s not in [on defense] and he’s coming [onto] offense every time, we’re losing out on even more coaching in those moments,” coach Liam Coen said, per ESPN. “And so wanted to just be very intentional today about getting him some of those visual reps so [defensive pass game coordinator Matt Araujo] can coach him even when he’s not in [on defense]. He’s not running over [to switch to offense]. So we just wanted to get him a little bit more of that.”
On offense, Hunter has mostly rotated in on three-receiver sets while playing behind Parker Washington and Jakobi Meyers and often trading reps with Brian Thomas Jr.
It seems the signs are pointing toward cornerback being his more primary position in 2026 while remaining involved offensively.
Tennessee Titans
Week 1 Preseason Result: 19-13 W over San Francisco 49ers last Thursday
Top Performer: Kicker Joey Slye
Slye had a typically standard season for himself in 2025 in his first year with the Titans, hitting 28 of 35 field goals (80 percent), including a reliable 19 of 21 inside of 50 yards. For his seven-year NFL career with the Panthers, Texans, 49ers, Commanders, Patriots and Titans, he’s converted at an 81.4% clip on field goals overall.
Slye isn’t facing any competition this camp, but every kicker’s job is ever tenuous in the NFL, so he further solidified his standing by making all 4 of his field goal attempts, from 39, 55, 53 and 58 yards.
The precision from long-distance was encouraging because Slye is 35 of 55 career from 50 yards or longer (including 9 of 14 last year).
Emerging Training Camp Storyline: Revamped offense more fizzle than sizzle so far
Quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft last year, fairly got a pass on his rookie season struggles due to an unideal situation with his head coach getting fired midway through the season and the offensive line struggling.
But expectations were ratcheted way up this year with new head coach Robert Saleh bringing in former Giants head coach Brian Daboll as offensive coordinator while spending big money on dynamic slot receiver Wan’Dale Robinson (four years, $70 million plus incentives) and drafting Ohio State star WR Carnell Tate No. 4 overall.
So it was certainly concerning to some degree when the Titans offense reportedly struggling mightily in joint practices with the 49ers ahead of the teams’ preseason game, in which Ward completed just 5 of 12 passes for 57 yards and 0 TDs. (Will Levis, competing with Mitchell Trubisky for the backup job, wasn’t any sharper while completing 3 of 8 passes for 42 yards.)
“It it looked like his mechanics were a little bit more sped up than it has been,” Saleh said. “Which is good because we can go correct it, which is what the preseason’s for. But I’m sure they’ll look back at it and see that the protection was pretty good, and he could have moved through the process a little bit.”
