Five final thoughts on the Tennessee Titans defense before camp

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Tennessee Titans linebacker, Harold Landry.

(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

1. The Tennessee Titans could lead the NFL in sacks

I feel like a broken record, but this is an offseason summary so I will say it once again. Last year the Tennessee Titans starting EDGEs Brian Orakpo and Derrick Morgan played over 1,100 snaps last year and combined for 1 sack.

Those two were outstanding players for the Titans over their careers and I am not saying that they didn’t do their jobs consistently even last year when they didn’t show up on the stat sheet as often.

What I am saying is that there is a lot of meat left on that bone. Meaning that there are 1,100 snaps up for grabs this season and only a few hundred more are going to go to Harold Landry who played a fair amount as a rookie.

Last year the Tennessee Titans finished with 39 sacks, 13 away from tying the NFL’s leaders the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers who had 52 each.

To top that number, this is all the Titans would have to do this year:

-Harold Landry: 10 sacks (4.5 as a backup last year)

-Defensive backs combined: 10 (9 last year without Adoree Jackson recording one)

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-Cameron Wake: 7 (had 6 in 14 games last year)

-Jurrell Casey: 7 (has had 6 or more in a season since 2015 and got 7 last year while missing a game)

-Jayon Brown: 7 (6 as a rotational linebacker)

-Rashaan Evans: 5 (averaged five in his last two college season, should have more snaps in general and on the EDGE according to camp rumors)

-Wesley Woodyard: 3 (had 4.5 last year)

-Kamalei Correa, Sharif Finch and Austin Johnson: 1 each (the trio combined for 6 alone in 2018)

What part of that isn’t achievable? To me it all looks like it could happen and that isn’t even factoring in guys like D’Andre Walker, DaQuan Jones (who had 3.5 in 2017), Brent Urban, Derrick Roberson, and Jeffery Simmons if he plays the last six games of the season.

So even if you think the players listed above are a sack too high, there is plenty of depth on this roster to make up for it.

With an aggressive play caller like Dean Pees and group of DBs that scare QBs into holding the ball longer, I could definitely see this group having some huge games and ultimately leading the NFL in sacks.

TL;DR: If the Tennessee Titans defense has similar stats to what they did last year and the EDGEs take advantage of the 1,100 snaps left behind by Derrick Morgan and Brian Orakpo, this defense should lead the NFL in sacks based on the 2018 leaders.

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