Landry's Deal Includes Reasonable 2022 Cap Number

The five-year, $87.5 million extension will cost the Titans $18 million or more against the salary cap in each of the final four years.

As expected, Harold Landry will cost the Tennessee Titans relatively little in 2022. After that, the price tag rises significantly.

The outside linebacker who signed a five-year, $87.5 million contract extension this week, will count $5.05 million against the salary cap in the first year of the pact. That is only slightly more than last season ($3.177 million), when he finished among the NFL’s top 10 with 12 sacks, and it accounts for just 2.4 percent of the coming season’s $208.2 million limit. Nine of his teammates currently have larger cap numbers.

After that, Landry will count more than $18 million against the cap and earn at least $15 million in base salary each of the last four years. His base salary of $15 million for 2023 is fully guaranteed.

OverTheCap.com reported the details of the deal Saturday.

“Obviously, I’m extremely blessed and grateful for this contract,” Landry said Thursday. “But at the same time, I feel like the money is just a biproduct of the work that I put in to become the best player that I can possibly be.

“That’s really all I focus on. … When I step on to the field, I want people to think that I’m the best player on that field. That’s my motivation.”

He is certainly paid as such.

Among non-quarterbacks, his deal currently ranks 25th in total value. The average of $17.5 million puts him among the top 10 edge rushers as does the total guarantee of $35.25 million.

The structure of the contract ensures that Landry will be on the Titans’ roster at least through 2023. After that, the team can get some serious salary cap relief by cutting him, if that is deemed necessary. Tennessee could free up $9.65 million by releasing Landry in 2024, $13.7 in 2025 and $17.5 million in 2026.

The Titans selected Landry in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft, and he has led the team in sacks each of the last three years. He also has played more snaps than any member of Tennessee’s defense over that time.

The 25-year-old was set to become an unrestricted free agent next week before he agreed to the new deal.

“I knew how much I loved being here, and I knew that I was going to do whatever I had to do to make sure that I came back here,” Landry said. “… When things started heating up, I just knew deep down that this is where I wanted to be.”