Landry Sustains Major Injury
NASHVILLE – Harold Landry had a chance to lead the Tennessee Titans in sacks for four consecutive seasons – emphasis on the word “had.”
Landry is virtually certain to miss the entire 2022 NFL after he tore an anterior cruciate knee ligament during Wednesday’s practice. ESPN was first to report the injury, which All Titans has confirmed.
The Titans were scheduled to practice Thursday but changed to schedule to meetings and conditioning work only late Wednesday afternoon.
The 2018 second-round pick out of Boston College signed a five-year, $87.5 million contract in March to remain with Tennessee rather than pursue other options in free agency.
The deal rewarded Landry for the durability and productivity he showed during his first four years in the league. It also came after a 2021 campaign in which the outside linebacker earned his first Pro Bowl invitation and finished among the NFL’s top 10 in sacks for the first time.
Landry has played more than 85 percent of the snaps on defense in each of the last three seasons, including 94 percent. He has missed just one game in his career and has started 52 straight games, the second-longest active streak among all NFL linebackers. He has played in 64 out of a possible 65 games.
Landry led the Titans with nine sacks in 2019, 5.5 sacks in 2020 and a career-high 12 in 2021. In so doing, he joined Jevon Kearse (1999-01) and Kyle Vanden Bosch (2005-07) as the only players during the Titans era (1999-present) to lead Tennessee in sacks for three consecutive seasons.
The only player in franchise history to lead the team in sacks more than three straight seasons was Jesse Baker, who had a five-year run (1981-85) when the team was the Houston Oilers.
The expectation was that Landry would team with Bud Dupree to create a formidable outside linebacker duo on the Titans’ defense. Dupree is in the second year of a five-year, $82.5 million free agent deal he signed with Tennessee last season, but he was limited in 2021 as he continued to recover from reconstructive knee surgery late in 2020 with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Without Landry, 2020 fourth-round pick Rashad Weaver will assume a more prominent role. The only other outside linebacker currently on the active roster is Ola Adeniyi, who is regarded as more of a special teams stalwart. The practice squad includes undrafted rookie David Anehih, who led the Titans with three sacks and two forced fumbles during the preseason.
