Robinson Provides No Clarity on Landry

At the NFL combine on Wednesday, the general manager made no assurances that the team's sacks leader each of the last three years will be back in 2022.

INDIANAPOLIS – When last we saw the Tennessee Titans, their defense was busy plowing the Nissan Stadium field with Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow.

Though the Bengals won the game, Tennessee's pass rush was something to behold, an unstoppable force that sacked Burrow nine times, tying an NFL record for a playoff game.

That capped a dramatic turnaround from the previous season, 43 sacks during the regular season after a mere 19 in 2020.

But will the fearsome foursome that accounted for most of that improvement – Harold Landry, Jeffery Simmons, Denico Autry and Bud Dupree – be able to run it back next year?

The clock is ticking on an answer to that question as Landry, a pending free agent, is fewer than two weeks away from the start of the legal tampering period, which begins on March 14. Another deadline looms even sooner: If the Titans want to slap a franchise tag on Landry, which would pay him an estimated $17.4 million next season, they must do so by Tuesday.

“I don’t know how I feel (about the likelihood of Landry returning),” general manager Jon Robinson said Wednesday at the NFL scouting combine. “I hope so. He’s done a lot of good things for us. But there’ s a lot of factors that go into that. He’s certainly worked hard, he’s been about what we’re about, and we’re going to do our best to try to keep him there.”

In a perfect world, there would be no doubt that the Titans would bring back Landry, a second-round pick in 2018. But they also have to consider what a new contract – specifically a multi-year contract – would mean for the rest of the payroll moving forward.

Spotrac estimates Landry’s next deal will be four years at $68.4 million, an average of $17.1 million per year. Pro Football Focus sees Landry landing a four-year deal worth approximately $60 million, an average of $15 million per year.

Considering the Titans already have a huge sum of money tied up in one edge rusher, courtesy of the five-year, $82 million deal Dupree signed last season, could they really re-sign Landry for the kind of money he’s earned?

Keep in mind, too, that two of the Titans’ brightest young stars – Simmons and wide receiver A.J. Brown – are now eligible for contract extensions, and those multi-year deals will be substantial as well.

“It is a balance,” Robinson said, “of keeping that (pass rush) together and working through Harold’s contract, and being mindful of players we have kind of coming down the pike, too, that we want to try to keep as well.”

Something else the Titans will consider when it comes to deciding how much they can afford to spend on Landry: As impressive, consistent and durable as Landry has been in his four seasons, his career-best numbers in 2021 – 75 tackles, 12 sacks, 14 tackles for loss – came following the Titans’ additions of Autry and Dupree, as well as upgrades at the cornerback.

By Pro Football Focus’ calculations, 42 of Landry’s 68 quarterback pressures last season were of the “cleanup or unblocked” variety, meaning he benefitted quite a bit from those around him.

“I think that all of those guys benefitted,” Robinson said. “I thought the rush was coordinated. I thought Denico’s presence along with Jeffery’s presence helped Harold. And I thought Harold’s presence helped Jeffery. And that’s what you want from that front.”

In the end, maybe the best option is the franchise tag.

That would keep Landry on the roster for one more year, wouldn’t impact the payroll beyond 2022, and would give the Titans a chance to see what they have in 2021 draft pick Rashad Weaver – an edge rusher.

And if the Titans choose to let Landry walk altogether? You can be sure they’ll be using a draft pick on an edge rusher this year. And there will be players available. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler listed nine edge rushers among the top 40 players on his draft board, and 17 in his top 100.

“I think the edge group is a pretty impressive group,” Robinson said. “There’s several guys kind of in that --whether they’re 4-3 ends or 3-4 backers -- they all kind of play hybrid now in a lot of these college schemes. So, you get to see them do a little bit of both.”