One AFC South team accounted for more cutdown transactions than two of its rivals combined, and its injured reserve list is the worst news in the division. The other three had quiet weekends with one loud exception each. Here is the division’s cutdown through the only lens nobody else uses: what the departed were flagged for.
Houston
Twenty-seven players out, four to injured reserve, and the IR line is the story: receiver Tank Dell lands on injured reserve, along with Dylan Horton, Kyonte Hamilton, and Ja’Marcus Ingram, whose designation allows a return.
On the ledger side, veteran receiver Sterling Shepard departs carrying eight flags over the last two seasons, six of them in 2024, false starts leading the list. A receiver with a false start habit is a drive killer on the road. The trade column: guard Jarrett Patterson to San Francisco, tackle Nate Thomas in from Dallas with four illegal formation flags from last season attached. Houston swapped one lineman’s clean sheet for another’s procedural one.
Indianapolis
Seven cuts, one of them expensive. Cornerback Mekhi Blackmon was waived with five flags and 86 penalty yards from last season, mostly defensive pass interference. Cleveland claimed him within the day. Waiving a corner with that sheet is a discipline decision as much as a depth one; some other team always believes it can coach the grab out of him.
The pickup is the quiet win: center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger arrives by trade from Buffalo. Kicker Blake Grupe was released, and his penalty line is a collector’s item: two flags, zero yards, both for kickoffs short of the landing zone.
Jacksonville
Five cuts, the lightest in the division, plus a quarterback arrival: Quinn Ewers by trade from Miami, carrying exactly one delay of game from last season. Defensive tackle Jalen Hunt goes out with an illegal blindside block on his sheet, and tight end Hunter Long was traded to Arizona. Nothing here moves Jacksonville’s flag profile. That was presumably the point.
Tennessee
Eight players out, two names bigger than the count. Will Levis was waived, three years after arriving as a second round pick; his penalty sheet across those years holds a single false start. Guard Cordell Volson also departs, and his ledger is the reason to note it: eight flags over 2023 and 2024, six of them in 2024 with offensive holding on top. That is one reliable flag source subtracted from the line.
| Player | Team | 2025 flags | Signature foul |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mekhi Blackmon, CB | IND | 5 | Defensive Pass Interference |
| Sterling Shepard, WR | HOU | 2 | False Start |
| Jalen Hunt, DT | JAC | 2 | Illegal Blindside Block |
The division-wide read: the AFC South shed pass interference and procedure fouls and imported almost nothing flagged. Whether that survives week one is what the per-team penalty pages in the app are for.