HEADLINES

D.J. Debick

AFC South Notes: Titans, Texans, Jaguars

July 1st, 2022 at 1:00pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Titans were the No. 1 seed in the AFC last year, but they have seen a number of significant changes on offense. this offseason. With A.J. Brown and Julio Jones gone, wide receiver will be one of the most intriguing position groups to watch as training camp unfolds.

The team has former Ram Robert Woods set to start alongside first-rounder Treylon Burks. Both have significant question marks surrounding them, however, as Woods is coming off of a torn ACL and Burks missed nearly all of the team’s spring programs. That leaves the door open for other players to stand out and earn significant playing time during at least the early portion of the season.

One candidate is Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. The former UDFA will open up training camp as a starter, per Terry McCormick of TitansInsider.com. The 25-year-old put up notable numbers in 2021, averaging 12.5 yards per catch on 38 receptions and scoring four touchdowns. His third season could very well be his best, especially if he gets an extended look with the first team during the campaign.

Here are some other notes from the AFC South, including another positional battle in Tennessee:

  • In that same piece, McCormick details the competition facing the Titans at left guard. Assuming 2021 second-rounder Dillon Randuz starts at right tackle, where he has been practicing this offseason, LG should be the only spot on the line up for grabs. That competition would then be decided by free agent signing Jamarco Jones, who played in a rotational capacity in Seattle for the past three years, and Aaron Brewer, who likewise has backed up along different positions on the interior in Tennessee since 2020.
  • The Texans made a number of front office moves, as detailed by Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. James Liipfert has been promoted to assistant director of player personnel and college scouting director. He had previously served elsewhere in Houston’s scouting department, joining Nick Caserio‘sstaff after a lengthy tenure in New England. The Texans also promoted Ronnie McGill, another Patriots veteran, to pro scouting director one year after his arrival in Houston. He will be joined by D.J. Debick as an assistant, as the team also hired him from New England. The final personnel hires Wilson notes are those of R.J. Goodwin and Nate Leopold, both as assistants.
  • The Jaguars are once again losing a key analytics staffer. Eugene Shen, who had been the team’s VP of football analytics, is leaving to take a position outside of sports, per ESPN’s Seth Walder (Twitter link). Last year, Jacksonville parted ways with Karim Kassam, who was also a VP-level staffer within the analytics department.

NFL Staff Notes: Texans, Ravens, Falcons, Panthers

May 28th, 2022 at 6:57pm CST by Ely Allen

The Texans hired D.J. Debick away from the Patriots this weekend, according to Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. Debick served in New England as a Midwest area scout, but, in Houston, he’ll have a bit more responsibility in the role of assistant director of pro scouting.

Debick is likely a replacement for former co-assistant of director of player personnel Matt Bazirgan, who departed earlier this month to join the Bills as a senior personnel executive.

Here are a few other staff moves from around the NFL, starting with a promotion up in Charm City:

  • The Ravens recently announced the promotion of David Blackburn, according to Wilson. Blackburn joined the Ravens in 2007 as an area scout, getting promoted to national scout in 2020. Blackburn’s most recent promotion places him in the position of director of college scouting, a huge move from where he started 15 years ago with Baltimore.
  • ESPN’s Seth Walder reports that John Taormina is no longer with the Falcons. Taormina joined Atlanta back in 2015 as a football analyst, working his way through a few promotions to his most recent position of director of football data & analytics. Taormina had served in the position for 11 months before parting ways with the team earlier this week.
  • The Panthers made an interesting staff move this week, according to Joseph Person of The Athletic, moving former-communications assistant Jordan Trgovac into a role in the team’s scouting department. Her role will assist with both college and pro scouting. Jordan is the daughter of former Panthers defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac, who has been a senior defensive assistant with the Raiders for the last three years.