In the midst of all the talk surrounding Jadeveon Clowney and his potential addition to the Tennessee Titans, Harold Landry has continued to remain the face of this Titans pass rush.
Landry is coming off a rather interesting 2019 season, one in which he struggled to take the success he discovered in the beginning of the year, and carry it over to the crucial stages of a playoff hunt.
Shane Bowen said Harold Landry probably played a little too much down the stretch last year and that teams began to key on him more after a stretch of 5 straight games with a sack.
— Terry McCormick (@terrymc13) June 2, 2020
That sort of excuse for Landry’s lack of success towards the end of the 2019 season is a reasonable one, but it’s one that can’t be leaned upon if Landry wants to be the dynamic player this pass rush needs him to be. Landry himself understands that, and you can bet he’s looking forward to staying on the field as much as possible in 2020.
“I just need to be able to perform at my best, full go, every single play. I think it has more so to do with me than it does him, but I appreciate him having my back.”
Harold Landry on Titans OLB coach Shane Bowen saying Landry played too many snaps down the stretch in 2019.
If Landry finds a way to stay on the field for the most part in 2020, he has to throw away the high levels of inconsistency that plagued him throughout the 2019 season.
After tallying at least 1 sack in 8 of his first 12 games in 2019, Landry recorded only 1 sack through 7 remaining combined regular season and playoff contests. Numbers like that can’t be the norm if Landry wants to become the premier pass rusher the Titans have been looking for.
They especially can’t be the norm once you take a look at the Titans’s current pass rush situation.
Due to Jurrell Casey’s departure earlier on in the off-season, the pass rush consists of more what ifs, than definite comfortable conclusions.
Jeffery Simmons is expected to replace Casey on the defensive line, but he’s yet to get a full healthy year under his belt, albeit his rookie year was shortened because of injury. Vic Beasley, the Titans’s 2020 big ticket free agent signing, is a projected starter, but he himself has a lot of issues to work out on the fundamental aspects of his game that simply can’t be ignored. Even past those two, the depth the Titans possess is plentiful, but you can only expect those guys to come on and bring some juice throughout the season, not to be a threat teams will lose sleep over.
Landry is a candidate to have a extra set of eyes on his individual performance this year, not only due to his current situation teetering close to a potential contract extension, but also his ability to aid in the replacement of Casey’s consistent production over the course of Casey’s long career as a Titan.
However, Landry isn’t looking to add more pressure to his already extensive list of responsibilities, in fact, he isn’t too concerned about any sort of added pressure whatsoever.
No, I don’t feel any added pressure, because no one holds a higher standard for myself than me. So no, I’m not feeling any sort of pressure.”
Harold Landry on whether he feels any pressure to produce after Jurrell Casey’s departure.
Consistency will be the name of the game for Landry in 2020. If he can grasp that level of success he obtained in the beginning of the 2019 season, and keep it going for a longer period of time, we’ll have a lot less to concerned about regarding Landry’s status as a Titan.
The ball is in Landry’s court, all that remains to do is watch.
