Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Can Tennessee Titans' Harold Landry Get Back to Form, Key & Weaver's Importance and Lack of Edge Depth

Episode Date: July 12, 2023

The Tennessee Titans gave Harold Landry a monster $85 million contract in 2022, but he missed the entire season with an ACL injury. Can Landry return to form for the Titans and what would a successful season look like? Next, with Landry likely coming on slowly after injury, the Titans will need Arden Key and Rashad Weaver to step up, but their lack of snaps in recent seasons makes that an interesting test. Finally, the Titans don't have much depth after their top three on the edge, but there are a few options in free agency that could make sense.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!birddogsGo to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONNFL or enter promo code LOCKEDONNFL for a free Yeti style tumbler with your order. You won’t want to take your birddogs off we promise you.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If the Tennessee Titans want to have the best defense in the NFL this year, Harold Landry's return will be the key. I'll explain what the Titans need from Harold Landry this season on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast.

I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. Today's episode is going to have you on the edge of your seat. We are going to continue our positional preview series as we lead up to training camp. We have moved into the defensive side of the ball. And today we are going to look at the edge group for the Titans. Obviously, that starts with questions about Harold Landry's return. Move into some questions about whether Arden Key or Rashad Weaver can step up. And then what comes after the top three at edge?

It's a little worrisome at this moment in time. So we'll get into all of that. Before we get into it, I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember daily Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps and always

for free. Get subscribed. Stay subscribed. It's your team every day here on the Locked on Titans podcast. Also, throw a thumbs up on the video if you're watching right now. Like I said, the show is free. All I ask for in return is the press of a button. And, of course, shout out to my everydayers out there

tuning in to the show Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you. We talked yesterday about all the recent reports about DeAndre Hopkins. Check those out if you missed it. And then, of course, we've done the interior defensive line, the entire offense as well. Go back and check those out if you have missed any of those. I know my everydayers have it.

And then, of course, we'll continue the week looking at linebacker, the defensive backs as well. So stay locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast. But with that being said, we are going to dive in here to the edge group. And my big question is, is Harold Landry going to be back for the Titans? Not in terms of if he is going to play. I think he's obviously

going to get on the field. But is he going to be back to himself enough to really justify the contract? I mean, unfortunately, last offseason gets the five-year $85 million contract, comes out, tears his ACL shortly right before the season.

Devastating blow. It was crazy because last year I was thinking to myself, leading up to the start of the season, the only thing that you don't want in that little dead period between the last preseason game and the start of the regular season is you just don't want to be a team that takes a negative blow in any kind of negative news. You just want to keep a team that takes a negative blow and like any kind of negative news. You just want to keep the momentum high, keep the vibes high and ride into the season on

your best foot possible. And when you lose Harold Landry last year, it's just incredibly difficult for the Titans. In my opinion, I was somebody who thought the Titans should bring back Harold Landry. They should pay the money. It was a good deal because of what he meant to the Titans defense. I mean, in my opinion, Harold Landry is what creates that multiplicity that Mike Vrabel is always talking about, especially with the front and the alignment up front because we know Harold Landry is a 3-4 outside linebacker, but he can put his hand in the dirt because he has the size and the length

and he can be a 4-3 defensive end. He also has the athleticism and the ability to play in space to where he can literally be a 4-3 outside linebacker as well. So the Titans can kind of mold their front and shift their front, change their alignment with Harold Landry as kind of a fulcrum piece and a pivot to allow them to go back and forth between all of these different fronts to give offenses a bunch of different looks throughout the game,

week to week. The Titans are able to kind of mold themselves into whatever they want to be. And I feel like right now, that's what's happening with the Titans offense. Tim Kelly is charged with creating multiplicity on offense. And it's a term, the multiplicity, that we heard from Mike Vrabel earlier this summer

when he was describing what he was looking for on offense. So not only the alignment flexibility that it gives the Titans, but Harold Landry's able to overhang in the slot. I've seen him do that with teams that play RPO. If you want a more physical option out there, but you want to retain your base personnel, you can drop in coverage thumb. He can run those twist stunts with Jeffrey Simmons or Danico Autry and the loop stunt. It's my favorite stunt that the Titans run where the defensive tackles that are on the interior both slant to the outside

and then Harold Landry from the edge loops back inside and tries to go through the A-gap, catch the interior offensive lineman who is much more quicker than off guard. It is just absolutely perfection when you see it executed properly. And Harold Landry is so good at running that loop with his bend and staying tight to his defensive lineman

to kind of catch people off guard as he's running it and then explode and play with physicality and take the quarterback down, get through somebody who's maybe just catching up to him late. It's awesome. And there's really nobody on the Titans roster that can replicate that is the issue. There is nobody else who can give you that sort of versatility. I mean, there's not a lot of guys in the NFL that offer that sort of versatility.

And I'm not saying that Harold Landry is a top-tier edge rusher in the NFL like some of the guys that you see like T.J. Watt or Miles Garrett or Nick Bosa, you know, the top-tier pass rush guys like that. But the versatility that Landry has combined with the ability to get 10 to 15 sacks somewhere in that range. Obviously, he had the 12 in 2021. The ability to, that versatility, and up to this point, that durability,

hadn't really missed any time other than a couple of games his rookie year up to last year tearing the ACL. All of that packaged together makes Harold Landry so important for this defense. And if they want to be the best defense in the NFL, they need him back to that. So I don't think that Landry needs to get like 12 sacks like he did, but he surely needs to be at like 9 or 10.

He still has to have that kind of impact on this defense. I think that the progression of Jeffrey Simmons and then some other additions adding in could really make it easier for Landry but I think that Landry needs to give the team around nine to ten sacks and he still needs to be that versatile piece that the Titans had before because that is part of the package that made him worth the five years 85 million dollars so let me know do you think that Harold Landry can get double digit sacks this year do you think that he will be back to his old self? Do you think he will be worth the contract this season? Let me know down below.

But there are some people who are going to give him some help. And we're going to talk about those people next. It's Rashad Weaver and Arden Key. One of them is going to have to step up in a big way from what they've done so far in their career. Who do you think it's going to be? I'm going to talk about that next. And at the end of the show, we'll talk about the rest of the depth

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Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, taking a look at the edge group for the Tennessee Titans as part of our positional preview series before we get into Titans training camp, which is just a few weeks away. Do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day.

Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, all apps, always for free. Get subscribed, stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. If you missed any positions on the offense or the interior defensive line, go check those out. We're going to be doing the rest of the defense with the linebackers and the secondary coming up the rest of the week or early into next week, depending on the news that comes out throughout the rest of the week, of course.

Always taking a look at stuff like that. So with that in mind, though, we're going to get back into this edge group. We talked about Harold Landry and what it would be like for him to be back in this Titans defense. But now we got to talk about the two guys who are directly below him on the depth chart because one of these guys is going to have to step up in a major way and do something that we haven't seen from them so far throughout their careers.

And whether it's Rashad Weaver, whether it's Arden Key, doesn't really matter. But one of them has to be the next starting outside linebacker, the next starting edge for the Titans across from Harold Landry. And one thing that makes me wonder about whether they can do that is their previous snap counts. Like I said, it's something that they haven't done throughout their career so far.

So you look at Arden Key. Arden Key spent time with the Raiders and he got starting snaps, but his career was on life support when he left the Raiders. It wasn't like he had had a good start to his career. So I don't even want to look at those. And the successful seasons that Arden Key has had, it was with San Francisco in 2021 and it was with Jacksonville last year. That is what has changed his career around. And you look at the snap counts in San Francisco in 2021, 41% of the defensive snaps.

Or 35%. You look at Jacksonville last year, 41%. So Arden Key got his career back on track when he went to be a rotational player that didn't have to be a starter all the time. And like, you see it right there, 41% in Jacksonville is the highest. So are people expecting Arden Key to come in

and now play 70, 80% of snaps with the Titans now? Is that the expectation? That's worrisome for me. I'm worried about that. Can he do that? I've talked about Arden Key's skill set and just his play mentality. He is a high energy, high effort, high motor guy at all times. You can tell if you see him talk at any of these Titans videos, his energy is electric. But the problem is, is it's hard for him to sustain that level of energy all game long. So San Francisco and Jacksonville got smart and were like, hey, you need to be more of a role player here

to come off the bench and rotate in. And we're not going to make you play starting level snaps because we want you to keep that high energy at all times. Well, the Titans are going to ask him to be a starter now. And can he do that? Is he capable of that? 11 total sacks in the last two seasons. I think he's a productive guy. I've mentioned this stat.

The last month of the season, Arden Key was second in the NFL in total pressures behind Nick Bosa, the defensive player of the year. So he really came alive at the end of the season. And maybe something has clicked now with two seasons, and he's ready to take that next step. But I think it's just a little bit of uncharted waters. And then you look at Rashad Weaver,

58% of snaps last year, even with Harold Landry out all season and Bud Dupree missing time. Rashad Weaver, 58% of snaps. So the Titans didn't feel like they could put him out there consistently. And they're going to need to be able to do that this year. Weaver has talked about himself, that he's looking to build consistency. He's looking to add lower body strength

because he does need to step up and be more consistent as a run defender. I mean, he had five and a half sacks. And that's great when you're a tertiary rusher coming off the bench and you're benefiting from Jeffrey Simmons and Danico Autry and Tarr and Bud Dupree at times. And you're benefiting off all that and cleaning things up. You got five and a half sacks. That's good.

But 58.8 run defense grade. And the film backs that up as well. Weaver wasn't near consistent enough setting the edge in run defense. He missed some tackles at time. I think he had four or five missed tackles when it's isolated situations in run defense. He gets too far up the field at times and undisciplined in his pass rush, leaving open lanes for quarterbacks.

So these are all things that a young player is doing. I'm not saying that he can't progress from them, but the question is, will he? Because the Titans need somebody to. If you're going to have Harold Landry, who, look, he's coming off the ACL, maybe he gets to 100%. I'm not certain of that.

I think he'd get 75%, 80%. Still be super helpful to the Titans like we just talked about. But that only works if one of these guys, Key or Weaver, do something that they've never done so far in their career. And again, I'm not saying that they can't. I'm just saying they haven't done it yet. Key has shown that he's best in that kind of role

when he's getting 40, maybe even to 50 snaps. Weaver has shown that he's inconsistent so far and a guy who, right now, you don't feel comfortable making a full-time starter. So one of those guys has to take a big step up and become a starting level guy who can sustain it throughout the entire year and sustain it throughout every snap. Because last year, or the last three seasons,

Landry played in 20... 19, 86% of the snaps. 20, 20, 94%. 20, 21, 86% of the snaps. 20, 20, 94%. 20, 21, 90%. Harold Avery can't play that many snaps again this year. He's got to get probably in the 80 range. I'd like to see it like 78. That's only possible if one of these guys takes a step up to a starter level

and the other takes a significant step up to be a consistent three that can play more snaps than they've played before. So this is really where the defense is going to be won or lost, I think. I think not enough people are focusing on Arden Key and Rashad Weaver because they are going to be absolutely huge. And the fact that the Titans don't have anything behind that is worrisome as well. And that's what we're going to talk about here in just a moment. We're going to dive into what's left of the edge group for the Titans. And again, why, why it's a bit of a

concern. We're going to cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Looking at the edge group for the Titans. We talked about Harold Landry and what being back would look like for him. We talked about Arden Key and Rashad Weaver and why they are two very, very pivotal parts of this defense considering Harold Landry's situation. But now I want to talk about the most concerning thing of all.

And that's what comes after those three players. Because it's a bit rough. I'm like shaken with fear. If one of those guys gets hurt, if one of those guys doesn't take the step up that the Titans need, there's really nobody that can add significant help. And yeah, the Titans may need to consider

some veteran help there. I've talked about that. But either way, moving right along, before we jump into this final conversation about the Edge group, do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day, Monday through Friday, daily Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps, always for free.

Make sure you get subscribed and stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. It's your team every day. But Sam Okwe and Nonu. Undrafted free agent, Caleb Murphy. Undrafted free agent, Thomas Rush. Better and journeyman, Zach McCloud. There you go.

Now, you could put Danico Autry in there if you want. I mean, because he is going to play some snaps on the edge, but I think this year more than ever, the Titans are going to try to limit his snap count. They're really going to try to deploy Danico Autry on third downs, pass rush situations. I think part of the reason that Autry got hurt last year is because he had to play too much because Harold Landry got hurt.

So, I just think that as Danico Autry turns 33, gets even older, the Titans have to find a way to limit his usage, use him more as a spot guy, as a role player. I'm not saying that he needs to drop

drastically in snap count down to 40, 50 or anything, but they just need to manage him a little better. So I don't think that after a knee injury headed towards 33 that Danico Autry needs to play a bunch of edge snaps. I don't think that that needs to happen. So with that being said, that puts the emphasis on the rest of the depth chart.

Sam Okwuenonu, Caleb Murphy, Thomas Rush, Zach McLeod, what? Who? Look, I have some hope in Caleb Murphy. Undrafted free agent, out of Ferris, had 40 sacks combined in his last two seasons of college. I don't care if it's low-level college football. That's impressive.

Okay? I think that maybe he has an opportunity to jump on here and take advantage. But he's still an undrafted free agent from low-level college football and maybe he's just not good enough in the pros. Then that leaves you Sam Okwe and Onu who played some on the edge last

year, but that was because the Titans had, again, historic injuries and leading the league and guys placed on IR. It's not what they wanted. And I don't think that Okwe and Onu right now is good enough to where if he had to play a lot,

I think it would be a concern. Okay? Like it was last year when things started deteriorating a bit because of all the injuries. It's part of that. So, to me, the Titans could use some veteran help there.

I know that a guy like, I think, Melvin Ingram would be an option that's available for the Titans. Someone younger. I know it's not a perfect fit because he's got off-ball skills, but again, I think this would be a good maybe potential veteran backup for Harold Landry, a guy like Anthony Barr. Some other veteran.

I mean, Yannick Ngakwe is still out there. Jadavion Clowney, still unsigned. I mean, for cheap, whatever. See if he can do it. Trey Flowers is still out there, 29 years old, versatile piece. I think that could make some sense. Carl Nassim, I mean, not a pure edge, but a guy who's had a ton of snaps in this league.

So I just think there are options there. Yeah, Melvin Ingram for sure, an option. Robert Quinn is still out there, although now you're talking older, but just having another body that can go out there and take some snaps and rush in a rotational role. That's why I'm okay if it's an older player because you can just play them, you know, 10 to 15 snaps on passing downs, third downs, and stuff like that to keep a good rotation going.

I'm just worried about the depth there. That's all I'm saying. So a little bit of a concern, but we'll see what they do before training camp as training camp continues. But tomorrow, like I said, we are going to dive into the linebackers, unless there's like major news or something like that, obviously. I'll dive into that. But either way, that is going to do it for me today, folks.

As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. And this was Locked on Titans.