COLUMN: Keeping Harold Landry Keeps the Titans in the Thick of the 2022 AFC Race
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ⏤ It’s terrific news for the Tennessee Titans that they managed to re-sign OLB Harold Landry, who led Tennessee with 12.5 sacks in 2021 and signed a five-year extension worth up to $85.7 million on Tuesday. While Landry’s individual performance was certainly strong last season, the reason that re-signing him is such a […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ⏤ It’s terrific news for the Tennessee Titans that they managed to re-sign OLB Harold Landry, who led Tennessee with 12.5 sacks in 2021 and signed a five-year extension worth up to $85.7 million on Tuesday.
While Landry’s individual performance was certainly strong last season, the reason that re-signing him is such a big deal goes beyond what he’ll be expected to produce on the stat sheet moving forward.
TWO YEARS OF STRUGGLE
Allow me to explain by diving into a bit of recent history.
During a locker-room conversation we had in 2019, former Titans pass rusher and five-time Pro Bowler Cameron Wake explained the importance of an NFL defense having a capable four-man pass rush.
“When you can get to the quarterback with just four guys, it frees you up to do a lot of other things, especially when you’ve got guys on the backend that can do their job really well,” Wake said. “Getting there with four is like a little notch in the hat for the coordinator to free him up to do other things.”
Unfortunately for Wake, the 2019 Titans never gave then-defensive coordinator Dean Pees that notch. They finished 13th in the league with a respectable 43 sacks, but many of them were delivered by blitzing linebackers and defensive backs.
Things got far worse in 2020, when the Titans recorded an embarrassing 19 sacks—the third-worst mark in the league behind only the four-win Bengals and one-win Jaguars.
Tennessee’s inability to even sniff opposing quarterbacks led to the defense being one of the NFL’s worst ever at preventing third-down conversions.
A CHANGE IN FATE
In 2021, though, things changed. Drastically.
The previously inept Titans pass rush was suddenly a force to be reckoned with. Newcomers Denico Autry and Bud Dupree joined forces with incumbents Jeffery Simmons and Landry to create arguably the NFL’s best four-man pass rush.
That quartet delivered its premiere performance in the Titans’ lone playoff game, when Tennessee brought Bengals QB Joe Burrow to the ground nine times.
Keeping Landry allows the Titans to maintain that incredibly talented and productive group of pass rushers, which is the primary reason re-signing him was so crucial.
Landry, Dupree, Autry and Simmons were totally in sync from a communication standpoint in 2021, which allowed the Titans to run a lot of complicated pass-rush stunts that offenses couldn’t figure out.
Losing Landry would have thrown that ability in the toilet. Instead, the Titans will get to develop it further.
“I feel like as the year went on, even starting in Training Camp, we just got better and better as a unit, and we started playing off of each other more and more consistently and efficiently,” Landry said.
“We’ve grown, and this continued time is only going to enhance that.”
If it weren’t for that growth, the Titans wouldn’t have won nearly as many games in 2021.
"I CAN GO MAKE PLAYS"
Even if you don’t believe the Titans’ pass rushers being conceptually on the same page in 2021 was a huge deal, it’s still nearly impossible to argue that the team’s defense wouldn’t take a massive step backward without Landry.
He’s not a pass-rushing savant in the way that guys like T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett are for the Steelers and Browns, but Landry is extraordinarily versatile, and the Titans took full advantage of that during his first four years with the team, especially in 2021.
In addition to lining up as a 3-4 outside linebacker last season, Landry rushed the quarterback from off the ball several times. He also played among the most coverage snaps of NFL edge defenders.
“I feel like I’m a guy who can play in any defense,” Landry said. “We can line it up and I can go make plays, or we can do some multiple things.”
The Titans weren’t going to find another Swiss Army Knife like Landry in free agency or the draft. Now, they don’t have to.
Throughout all the injury turmoil they endured in 2021, two constants remained for the No. 1 seeded Titans: QB Ryan Tannehill and the pass rush.
In wins where the margin was tight thanks to the Titans’ depleted roster, sacks made the difference, and most of them came courtesy of Landry.
Now that he’s back, they figure to be just as equipped to win games—and, perhaps, a Super Bowl—in 2022 as they were when they disappointingly fell just two games short of the promised land in 2021.
“We’re really confident that we have the team to go out and win a Super Bowl,” Landry said. “I think our front four can lead the charge.”
Cover image: Steve Roberts/USA Today
