Tennessee Titans most important OTA story line: EDGE

NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 11: Trevor Siemian
NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 11: Trevor Siemian /
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Can the Tennessee Titans finally have three quality EDGE players?

On paper, you wouldn’t think the Tennessee Titans biggest need this offseason was EDGE. However, looking back you could certainly make that argument.

Even though the Titans finished top-5 in the NFL in sacks, there were 16 teams whose top two EDGE players actually totaled more sacks than Brian Orakpo and Derrick Morgan combined.

Honestly don’t even think that is a knock on Derrick Morgan and Brian Orakpo, I think it is more because they were used so poorly and because Dick LeBeau had a bad habit of sending three on critical downs because he wanted to drop everyone in coverage.

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The fact remains that even if it isn’t their fault, they are both in the final year of their contracts. Either way the Titans needed someone who could be both an effective 3rd pass rusher now and a potential above average starter in 2019.

So the biggest question for the Tennessee Titans at EDGE during OTAs is:

Can Harold Landry be that player?

This isn’t usually a question that you can break down during OTAs for a number of reasons. Everything from depth chart order, to snap count, to how seriously the OL take the practice reps, to the fact that no one is wearing pads all potentially limit what you can learn about rookies in OTAs.

I would say there are two sub-questions to that big question.

First, does Landry look like he is what we saw on tape athletically. Is he playing with good pad level, bend and burst? Is he showing the ability to flatten out his path to the QB once he gets past the pass block?

All of those things are key to his success in the NFL as are his hands which are underrated in my opinion.

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The other big question is, how is his health?

During his last season, even though the stats show a pretty good year he was limited by an ankle injury. Titans fans will remember that Corey Davis had an ankle injury in the offseason before Tennessee drafted him.

I don’t know if the ankle injury and the late start to training camp is what led to his hamstring injury, but I promise it didn’t help.

The Tennessee Titans need to get Harold Landry under contract and keep him close to the facility so that he can get great rehab and make sure he gets completely healthy if he isn’t already there.

Those two questions will have a lot to do with answering the question, “Is Harold Landry the next talented EDGE player?”

I have a lot of hope in Landry and time will tell if I am right, but those are the things I would monitor going forward.