5 NFL teams who might be regression candidates for 2020 season

By John Buhler | Apr 7, 2020

KANSAS CITY, MO - JANUARY 19: Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid displays the Lamar Hunt to the fans in victorious fashion after the AFC Championship game between the Tennessee Titans and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday January 19, 2020 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. (Photo by Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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Bill O’Brien, Houston Texans. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images) /

AFC. South. player. Scouting Report. Houston Texans. 2. 10. Pick Analysis

Now, this is an exponential decay from the three teams we’ve touched on already. It would be shocking to see the Kansas City Chiefs, the San Francisco 49ers or the Green Bay Packers not make the playoffs. However, few teams self-sabotaged as catastrophically as the Houston Texans this offseason. It doesn’t seem like Bill O’Brien‘s team will win the AFC South this fall anymore.

Trading away DeAndre Hopkins for David Johnson was criminal act designed to only infuriate Texans fans. Doing this deprived star quarterback Deshaun Watson of his Clemson buddy and his former No. 1 receiving target. Houston can draft a wide receiver later this month, but this head-scratching trade will likely have the Texans finishing in third place in the AFC South.

Two of their rivals will compete for the division crown in the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans. Tennessee may be the presumptive favorite to host a home playoff game in Nashville, but the Titans haven’t won the AFC South in over a decade. As for the Colts, Philip Rivers might be an improvement at quarterback over Jacoby Brissett, or he might not. They can still contend, though.

As for Houston, it feels like we’re gearing up for a season from hell for the Texans. Though it would be shocking to see them finish in the basement of the division below the Jacksonville Jaguars, it’s hard to be optimistic about this franchise. It doesn’t matter if they’ve won the AFC South four out of the last five years. The Texans are a massive regression candidate and everybody knows it.

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