[FREE] What to Expect from Harold Landry
What should we expect from Harold Landry as he makes his seemingly under the radar return to this Tennessee Titans defense?
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After inking a monster 5 year, $87.5M contract last off-season, expectations were a bit high for Harold Landry entering the 2022 season.
Landry was coming off an excellent 2021 season, one in which he finished with career highs in a number of key figures, including tackles, sacks, and tackles for loss. Not only that, he had expanded upon his role, transitioning from a traditional speed rusher, into a do-it-all chess piece that the Titans used all across the field.
Whether he was used as an off ball coverage linebacker to match up against different skill sets, or even being a vital part of the Titans’ rush scheme — which includes a lot of stunts and twists — Landry pretty much excelled at it.
That along with the exorbitant amount of money Landry received, you can understand why expectations were so lofty.
But unfortunately for Landry and the Titans, those expectations weren’t able to be met, but not for a reason like disappointing play on the field — a factor that has ruined a lot of situations involving big time deals.
No, these expectations were put on the backburner due to an unexpected, yet untimely significant injury Landry suffered just a week and some change before the Titans’ season opener on September 11th.
I think we all know the story by now? Unless you have some sort of amnesia or you slept under a rock for years.
Landry tore his ACL during a random mid-week practice, ending his season and forcing the Titans to rapidly make some concessions at such an important spot defensively. Granted, the Titans were able to make up for Landry’s absence somewhat, relying on their depth and asking the rest of their defensive line to up their game a bit.
But Landry’s absence was still notable, particularly on the edge, where his athleticism was showcased a number of times during his career year in 2021.
Now in 2023, close to a year after the injury that ripped his 2022 season away from him, Landry is back and ready to finally prove his worth. But is he truly ready to put the injury behind him and get back to being the swiss army knife the Titans loved so much in 2021?
It’s impossible to tell at this point, but we can at least discuss the possibility.
Is Landry Ready?
The million dollar question is simple.
Is Landry ready to jump back into the fold for the Titans and give the same level of play he showcased in 2021?
Like I mentioned before, it’s impossible to tell at this point. Not only because ACL injuries — even with modern medicine being as advanced as it is — and their recoveries vary from player to player, but also because we haven’t seen Landry on the field at all since the injury.
He didn’t participate in OTAs nor did he step on the field for minicamp and rightfully so. The Titans are going to be extremely careful with him and will only clear him for practice when he’s ready to go.
Until then though, speculation will continue to run rampant regarding Landry’s return as well as his post injury form.
I don’t think Mike Vrabel and the Titans truly care about that though. Hell, you can probably say his attitude sucks and even then he’d probably shrug it off — maybe even agree with you — and move on with his life.
All Vrabel cares about is making sure his dudes are good to go, which is something you can only respect.
We truly won’t get an idea if Landry is ready to go until we get closer to the season — and that won’t be here until early to mid September — so we have a long way to go until then.
While the time passes though, we can continue to ponder Landry’s surgically repaired knee and if Landry will be the same player after.
Speaking of a surgically repaired knee, an injury like this can hamper expectations for a player, regardless if they want it to or not.
That’s simply the way of the game and has been for a long while now. So what should we expect from Landry after the surgery and will his on field performance be affected?
What Should We Expect From Landry?
The answer is….not his 2021 form, at least statistically.
Over the years, we’ve seen many players across the league go down with ACL tears. Some have longer recovery times than others, but the general consensus is that recovery times vary from anywhere from nine to twelve months, depending on any extra damage that the knee takes during the traumatic sequence (think extra ligament damage like an LCL, PCL, meniscus, etc.).
It can also take anywhere from 18-24 months for a player to return to their form before the injury, if they can even get to that point. This all according to Matt Provencher, an injury analyst at FOX Sports.
There’s no word on if any extra damage occurred during Landry’s ACL tear, but even without that info, it’s been clear the Titans want to take it easy with Landry.
Which isn’t surprising in the slightest.
Simply due to the fact that any rush to return could set Landry back, which is something that every team and player fears when this injury occurs.
It’s a legit fear too.
According to a study posted on the National Library of Medicine — a sort of archive for different medical related studies, journals, etc. — players who tore their ACLs between the years of 2013 and 2018, all started in fewer games, played in fewer games, and had lower snap counts after they returned to play in some shape or form.
Yes yes, I know Landry’s injury occurred after 2018, but medicine — specifically this type of procedure and recovery — haven’t advanced to a point where this study can’t be referenced.
So with all this information presented, I think we can draw a conclusion based on data and historical statistics. Yes, Landry can return to the field and play at a level necessary for an NFL player.
But it’d be harsh to expect Landry to return to the form that got him his big contract in the first place. Well, at least immediately that is.
So for anyone who’s banking on Landry to give the Titans’ defense a big boost in a variety of ways, maybe hold your horses a little.
The Rundown
This isn’t to say Landry will fall off the face of the earth after his injury.
We’ve seen plenty of players come back from this injury and even thrive once they got back on the field. But it takes a lot of patience at the same time.
You can’t expect every player to return from an ACL tear like Adrian Peterson did. What he did was frankly superhuman, something that even doctors couldn’t even believe when they saw what was happening.
In this situation, you have to be realistic and use some important data to draw conclusions for now. That data says Landry won’t return to form for some time, which is fine, as long as he can gradually find it again.
But like I said before, patience, patience patience.
Only then will you be able to fully reap the reward that is wholeheartedly deserved.
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