5 Tennessee Titans stats that may be hard to believe
By Will Lomas
1. Secret superstar Harold Landry
I have this argument a lot with people on Twitter about Landry. Everyone is so quick to say that he is “solid, but not great.” I hate to tell you, but you are just wrong.
Let me help put his stats in context, because Landry isn’t just a designated pass rusher or someone with no responsibilities in the defense. There are a handful of plays each game where he lines up completely off the ball as a third linebacker playing next to Rashaan Evans and Jayon Brown.
Even when he is lined up on the line of scrimmage, he is often asked to jam tight ends at the line of scrimmage to prevent a free release. That means that his pass rush starts a full second or second and a half later than the rest of the defensive front.
Going even deeper, if you have watched him in college or at the NFL level then you know that his best trait is his speed and flexibility off the edge. Well, the Titans defense very rarely lets him do that even when he rushes because they want to create the illusion of pressure by stunting their defensive line and pushing their EDGEs inside.
Despite all of this, look at how he ranks among his fellow 2018 draft classmates in key categories:
-TFLS: 3rd behind Darius Leonard and Bradley Chubb
-QB hits: 3rd behind Bradley Chubb and Marcus Davenport
-Sacks: 3rd behind Bradley Chubb and Sam Hubbard
Chubb should have been the defensive rookie of the year last year, hands down, so being behind him isn’t a big deal. But outside of him, Landry is the most consistent and well rounded EDGE from the 2018 NFL Draft class and the Titans landed him with a 2nd round pick.
Not only that, but his numbers are lower than they should be because he wasn’t even allowed to start last year with veterans Derrick Morgan and Brian Orakpo in front of him.
Landry is a star and if you don’t recognize it now then you are going to be behind the rest of us by the end of this year.