AFC Notes: Carnell Tate, Cam Ward, Colts, Jaguars, Titans

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Colts Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon shared a childhood story to demonstrate the importance of the franchise to both her and her family’s legacy. “If you’re old enough to remember, the ’80s were not so great around here,” Irsay- Gordon said, via ESPN . “I was in third grade. It was probably 1987. And I’ll never forget it … I thought she was my best friend. I hear her talking to this other girl. And this other girl was saying, ‘The Irsays should just get the hell out of here. What are they even doing? My dad says they’re losers.’ And [my friend] was like, ‘Yeah, maybe they are.’ And I just remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh.’ This was my best friend!” “You should see some of the letters that I’ve received, three-page handwritten — in this day and age — handwritten letters that are just a diatribe of why this sucks and this is bad, and this is horrible, and you need to change this, and you need to get rid of this,” she said of the franchise. “Almost like a roster breakdown of what is wrong. And in my mind, I’m going, ‘My god, someone had to spend probably an hour to two hours on this.’ Not to mention, write an address, put a stamp, and put it in the mailbox. I mean, the fact that someone takes the time in 2026 to do that, to me, is amazing. No one likes criticism. But it also means they care. That’s not apathy. … I’ll take any kind of feedback. Alternatively, you get other people that are like, ‘Hey, just so you know, I know people are probably s—ting all over you right now, but I just appreciate what you’re doing.'” Jaguars The Jaguars signed RB J’Mari Taylor as an undrafted free agent out of Virginia despite having him on their draft board. Taylor is used to being an underdog in his football career, and he reflected on Jacksonville’s continued interest throughout the pre-draft process. “I have always been an underdog in my whole football career,” Taylor said, via the team’s website . “It’s just that I love to play football, man. It is just the love of the game for me.” “That was like the first team that I talked to throughout the process, and pretty much they thought I was going to be drafted. When they found out that I wasn’t [drafted] and they were the first team … I was going with the first team, because that’s the one who really wanted me the most.” Titans The Titans selected Ohio State WR Carnell Tate with the fourth overall pick and felt that he was a perfect fit for their offense and QB Cam Ward . “The quarterback is a pretty damn important piece,” Titans HC Robert Saleh said, via Turron Davenport . “So we’re doing everything we can to help [ Ward] and surround him with players who can get the ball in their hands and go score. Carnell was by far the top receiver on our board. It was a very easy decision to make.” “Tate is a bigger, vertical guy with the ability to play big downfield,” GM Mike Borgonzi noted. “That’s the one thing, all these contested catches downfield, his ability to go up and catch the football, contort his body in certain ways. I think it’s going to be great for Cam.” “He’ll have an explosive year just because he’ll get a lot of one-on-one matchups,” Ward said of Tate. “That’s what we want. We want guys to come down and play, man, because we think we can beat him. I think this is one of the best offenses he could be in just because he’s going to get coached, but he’s not going to get overcoached, and he’s going to still be able to play football how he sees it.” The post AFC Notes: Carnell Tate, Cam Ward, Colts, J…