The Tennessee Titans lucked out in seeing stud pass rusher Harold Landry fall in the NFL Draft. They traded up to grab their guy, a piece many believed to be the missing piece on the Titans defense. But, injuries slowed Landry’s development down. The guy actually had a rather uneventful preseason, showing flashes of greatness in practice, but not really playing enough for us to get a good read on the guy.
Well, he saw his first game action against the Houston Texans in Week 2. To quote the great Mike Herndon, it was indeed a pretty damn good start.
Harold Landry’s first NFL snap. I’d say that’s a pretty damn good start. pic.twitter.com/7S5X0FNuRl
— Mike Herndon (@MikeMiracles) September 17, 2018
Harold Landry gets to Watson again for the pressure to force the inaccurate throw and #Titans get the ball back, under 7 minutes to play, chance to regain the lead #TENvsHOU pic.twitter.com/Mjji5JD0xd
— Titans Film Room (@titansfilmroom) September 16, 2018
So, yeah – you can see….right away, Landry was a factor. A nuisance that caused great discomfort for the Texans offense. Houston’s left tackle barely got a hand on him in that first tweet. He just flat out ran around him in the second tweet. The poor guy didn’t stand a chance against Landry’s athleticism there.
Mike Vrabel said Landry’s first start “was okay.” But, let’s be honest – not to kick a man while he’s down, but we’re talking about a Texans offensive line that was among the worst in the league in 2017, and doesn’t appear to be much improved in 2018.
How would Landry perform against a far better offensive line?
Harold Landry came close to getting his first sack yesterday. pic.twitter.com/EL9CPtG8Pd
— Ty Wurth (@WurthDraft) September 24, 2018
Tackles are having a hard time handling Landry’s athleticism. You see in all three of these clips that he’s just blowing right past guys. That’s Jeremy Parnell in the third clip – that’s a pretty good right tackle in the NFL, but he didn’t stand a chance on that play.
Sacks and pressures come in bunches, and it certainly feels like all of this is building to a crescendo. If Landry continues on this trajectory, if Kamalei Correa continues to pay dividends, and if Derrick Morgan and Brian Orakpo can both get healthy and be productive, the Titans pass rush could turn into quite the force by season’s end.
What do you think, Titans fans? Do we have a future stud on our hands?
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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