The Houston Texans and the Denver Broncos will headline the coaching staffs for the 2018 Reese’s Senior Bowl. These two staffs are just a couple of years removed from the playoffs. Both teams head coaches looked to be on the hot seat after the season due to disappointing performances this year. This led them to be the coaches of this year’s Senior Bowl.
The rosters for these teams, North and South, will be announced on January 17th. The game is held on January 27th.
Denver Broncos-North
Vance Joseph and the Denver Broncos were only able to manage a five-win season after a three and one start. That was in most part due to the Broncos awful quarterback play. John Elway said the number one goal in the Broncos offseason is to upgrade the quarterback position. Paxton Lynch, Trevor Simien, and Brock Osweiler are clearly not the answer.
Being able to coach in the Senior Bowl will give the Broncos a closer look at some of the quarterback prospects. Most notably, Baker Mayfield. Mayfield is looking like he is first round talent for sure now and he may as well just be the name the Broncos call in April. This will be the first time the Broncos are coaching the Senior Bowl. If they don’t get Baker though, there will be a high chance of them landing Luke Falk. He is projected possibly being a late first round pick to a late second round pick. Either way, the Broncos will have a chance to take a look at two great quarterback prospects.
Houston Texans-South
Down in Houston, Bill O’Brien and company had a lot of unfortunate injuries to deal with. This team looked to be on the path to the playoffs until the loss of stud rookie quarterback, Deshaun Watson. Watson tore his ACL in a practice before a week nine match-up with the Indianapolis Colts. This also went with the plethora of injuries the Texans had on defense to start players.
This is going to be the second time the Texans get the privilege of coaching this game. The last time they did was in 2003, their expansion year when Dom Capers brought out his staff to Mobile.
Deshaun Watson masked all the problems with their offensive line and scored enough points, sometimes, to help the defense. This defense went from elite to poor real quick. They did lose their top two players, J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercillus, but they don’t have to cover the wide receivers. Jonathon Joseph and Kareem Jackson are getting up there in age and their play is declining. Former first-round pick also isn’t becoming the corner they hoped he would become when they drafted him. The Texans don’t hold a pick until the third round so they will have to find some day two and three talent to improve this team for the future.
A couple of players to look at would be Frank Ragnow, Kyzir White, and Levi Wallace. Ragnow is a center/guard from Arkansas that can possibly still be around in the third round. Kyzir White is a safety from West Virginia who is projected fourth or fifth round. Then Wallace is a corner from Alabama who is projected to be a sixth or seventh round pick. Getting to know any of these players more will help them know if they are worth drafting.
– Christian Gotzman is the Managing Editor for Full Press Coverage College Football. He covers the NFL Draft. Like and follow on Follow @C_Gotzman Follow @FPC_CFB and Facebook.
