AFC Notes: DaVon Hamilton, Woody Marks, Jaguars, Texans, Titans

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Jaguars Jaguars DT DaVon Hamilton spoke about a scary bout of paralysis that came over him following a joint practice with the Lions, ahead of a preseason game, which Hamilton wound up missing before heading to a Jacksonville hospital for further evaluation. Hamilton had sustained a spinal epidural abscess with severe spinal cord compression, an infection in the spinal canal that puts pressure on the spinal cord. “I need help to walk, period,” Hamilton told ESPN . “I had two or three people helping me. So, I’m just getting held up by a couple trainers and [the Jaguars’ medical staff] is like, ‘We need to get you to the hospital now.'” “I was very determined to come back and play,” Hamilton said on his recovery from the injury. “I wasn’t allowing that to even seep into my mind that I wasn’t going to play because I was training to that level to try to be back. Did I feel like I was necessarily fully healthy at that point? Probably not, but I was just very determined at that point that I’m going to play football again.And if it is just my last year and things don’t work out, that’s fine. But at least I got myself back to the point where I can be back on the field.” “He just does his job to the best of his ability every single day without saying a negative word or anything,” Jaguars HC Liam Coen noted. “He cares about all the right things. A lot of his job is selfless, helping others and helping get other people freed up in the run game and the way that he can two-gap and play sometimes gap-and-a-half football. … The Raiders game, the 2-point conversion, all those things, you look back on D- Ham making huge plays for us this year. I think he’s just getting better and better.” Texans After an injury sidelined RB Joe Mixon for the 2025 season, Houston traded for David Montgomery to pair with second-year RB Woody Marks . Marks expressed his excitement to play with Montgomery, and he talked about their relationship getting off to a strong start. “I’m very excited,” Marks said, via Aaron Wilson of KPRC . “Just looking back at the clips with him and Jahmyr Gibbs , it looked like they was having so much fun out there. When the running back room doing good and everybody blocking, it’s a party in the running back room. So, we’re looking to have that same joy him and Jahmyr Gibbs had bringing it down here in Houston.” “He’s a funny guy. We’re going over plays and stuff right now. Get on the field for a short amount of time. We run plays. He wanted to change the plays to funny names. He’s a great guy. Just working out with him and then with the other backs there, we get along. We’re just clicking together.” Marks also said OC Nick Caley has him expanding his route tree to be more of a weapon in the passing game. “Nick Caley is doing a great job right now. Got me doing all types of routes, learning the route tree. Just get outside and just using me as he can so I can be productive.” Titans Titans DT Jeffery Simmons made an appearance on CBS Sports’ Offseason Playbook , where he said that Eagles NT T’Vondre Sweat called him to inform him he was being traded. Simmons was shocked by the news and believes that Sweat has a chance to be one of the best nose tackles in the league. “It was a surprise to me,” Simmons said. “Just trying to get a feel for why. I feel like Sweat still has some potential that sometimes he doesn’t understand. For me, that’s the reason why I’m like Sweat, you’re coming down to Dallas with me this offseason. I wanted to pull that out…