South Notes: Titans, Casey, Texans, O’Brien

After spending nine seasons the Titans, defensive tackle Jurrell Casey felt entirely disrespected when he was traded to the Broncos in exchange for a seventh-round pick earlier this year. “For us to get to that point to get better and to be a main focus of that and then you just throw me away to the trash like I wasn’t a main block of that, especially coming off an injury the year before and playing the whole season for ya’ll,” Casey tells Terry McCormick of TitansInsider.com. “No complaints, I did everything you wanted me to do and you throw me like a piece of trash.” Tennessee shopped Casey before trading him, per McCormick, and moved on him from largely due to his upcoming salary. But Casey says he wasn’t aware of any trade talks until roughly 30 seconds before the deal was finalized.

Here’s more from the NFL’s two South divisions:

  • Count Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan among those who believe Colin Kaepernick should have a shot to return to the NFL. Speaking to reporters, Ryan said Kaepernick, who was essentially blackballed for protesting police brutality in 2016, should have “every opportunity” to join an NFL roster this year (Twitter link via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com). The status of the 32-year-old Kaepernick has re-entered the news following the killing of George Floyd and subsequent nationwide protests against police violence and systemic racism.
  • The Texans fired ex-general manager Brian Gaine one year ago Sunday, paving the way for head coach Bill O’Brien to assume total power in Houston. Aaron Reiss of The Athletic looked back at the past year of O’Brien’s decision-making and highlighted that O’Brien is largely bucking conventional wisdom at every turn. Not only did O’Brien trade away a proven pass-catcher in DeAndre Hopkins, but he’s also placed little value on accumulating draft picks while deploying assets on running backs.
  • PFR’s Zach Links recently profiled Texans cornerback Gareon Conley as he enters a make-or-break year in 2020.
View Comments (20)