When training camp began last month, one of the goals Tennessee Titans outside linebackers coach Ryan Crow had for Harold Landry was for him to develop new pass-rush moves instead of heavily relying on his speed rush.
In order to do that, Crow said that he wouldn’t allow Landry to use what is his best move, and instead would work with him to develop new ones to add to his repertoire and improve his overall game.
“What I told Harold was, I took his fastball away. He’s a speed guy, I think everyone that watches his film throughout the league realizes he’s a speed guy, so the conversation with him was you can’t use that, you’ve got to find something else,” Crow explained earlier this month. “Make some new mistakes, learn some other moves, try them, see if they work, and then kind of create that second and third pitch.”
And Landry has pretty much done just that. Granted, he is still working on his “fastball” in order to continue to refine it, but Landry admits Crow’s challenge has helped him discover some new moves.
“It has definitely brought to light new moves that I can use that I know can work,” Landry admitted. “But I’ll still work that move on the side because if you don’t use it, you lose it. So, I make sure that I keep working that while discovering new moves as well. It has been good; I accepted the challenge and it has been going well.”
Landry tallied a career-high nine sacks in 2019, only to fall back down to 5.5 in 2020. Part of that had to do with a lack of help around him, but he was also misused far too often, as he was called to drop back into coverage a lot.
With more help around him in 2021, and with the Titans hopefully having learned from their mistakes with how they deployed him in 2020, Landry should have his best season yet in what is a contract year.
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