Report: Outside Linebacker Won't Be Back

The Titans won't make a qualifying offer to Derick Roberson, which means he will become an unrestricted free agent.

Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports

It is possible that Derick Roberson was Plan B.

Had the Tennessee Titans lost outside linebacker Harold Landry to free agency, Roberson could have provided a measure of continuity – and potential – for a defense that has high expectations for 2022. After all, in limited action over the past three seasons (16 games played), he registered four and half sacks, eight quarterback pressures, three tackles for loss and one forced fumble.

Landry agreed to a five-year contract extension, though, and the Titans have decided not to extend a qualifying offer needed to retain the rights to Roberson, who was set to be a restricted free agent, according to an NFL.com report Wednesday. As a result, the 26-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent and available to any team when the new league year begins on March 16.

Undrafted out of Sam Houston State in 2019 (he spent his first two years of college football at Texas), the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Roberson routinely enticed coaches and franchise officials with flashes of potential but had a hard time staying healthy.

Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen singled him out last offseason as a player who looked ready for a bigger role in 2021. Ultimately, though, Roberson spent seven weeks on injured reserve and was inactive for five other contests. The two games in which he saw the most action (at New England, versus Jacksonville), he made seven tackles with three tackles for loss and registered one and a half sacks.

In just 86 snaps on defense last season, he set a career-high with 10 tackles and tied his career-high with four quarterback pressures.

Roberson spent most of his rookie season on the practice squad, but in his second appearance, Week 16 against New Orleans, he registered two sacks. The next week at Houston had notched one more sack, which was enough for him to finish fifth on the team in that regard. He played a career-best eight games in 2020 but missed the final two weeks of the regular season and the playoff loss to Baltimore with a hamstring injury.