This Season Won't Exactly Be Business as Usual for Correa

Fifth-year linebacker returns without his long-time coordinator and with higher-than-ever expectations.

NASHVILLE – Change has not exactly been a constant in Kamalei Correa’s NFL career.

Sure, he switched teams once, but that was not his decision. He was traded. And as it turned out, he had the same defensive coordinator at both places.

When presented the opportunity to negotiate a contract with any of the league’s 32 teams earlier this year, he opted to stay put. The 26-year-old re-signed with Tennessee for one year at $2.25 million.

So, in that regard the 2020 season will be nothing new for Correa.

“I'm just happy to be back with the Titans, that they gave me another opportunity,” he said in a video conference Wednesday. “… This offseason was a little strange for the free agency, but I'm glad that my agency, and the front office here … they got it all figured out. I'm happy to be back with the team and with these guys. And we're ready to go win the Super Bowl.”

Not everything will be the same, though.

For example, for the first time in his career Correa will be part of a defense for which Dean Pees is not the coordinator. He entered the NFL in 2016 as a second-round pick by Baltimore when Pees was the defensive coordinator there. The Ravens traded him to the Titans in 2018, Pees’ first season running the defense for Vrabel.

Pees retired in January, which left Correa – and the rest of that unit – to carry on without him.

“He gave me a chance in Baltimore,” Correa said. “He took a chance on me. He drafted me high and for him to come here to Tennessee, it was just like going back home to your friend's house and you're just catching up and it really was like we never skipped a beat when he came here. We kept the train moving.”

Then there is the fact that Correa turned into a different player late last season. A starter in five of the final eight games of the regular season (he had eight starts in his first three years combined), he collected 22 of his career-high 37 tackles over the second half of the schedule. All of his career-high five sacks also came during that period.

In the playoffs, he started each of the Titans’ three contests, added two more sacks and set a career-high with 10 tackles in the loss to Kansas City in the AFC Championship.

That has raised expectations for what he will do in 2020 to levels he never has experienced.

“I mean, for me, I'm just here,” Correa said. “I'm ready to work and I'm willing to do whatever the coaches want me to do. Whether that’s play a lot. Whether that’s play a little. It really doesn't matter.

“My job description is to be ready on Sundays and to be ready to play, no matter what.”

Just like it’s always been.