Tennessee Titans defensive lineman Denico Autry often flies under the radar for just how good he is, especially when it comes to the national media.
Autry has proven to be a steal for the Titans, who signed him during the 2021 offseason to a three-year, $21.5 million deal. Since then, Autry has posted 17 sacks in 29 games, including a career-high nine in 2021.
The 32-year-old was in the midst of a phenomenal season in 2022 and was on pace to smash his career-high sack total, with seven over the first 10 games, but suffered an injury that hampered him the rest of the way.
It isn’t often that Autry gets the recognition he deserves, but Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar is rightly giving it to him by naming him the Titans’ “Secret Superstar” going into 2023.
Farrar’s thoughts:
Autry is going into his third season with his third NFL team, which seems odd for a player who’s been as productively versatile as long as he has. An undrafted free agent out of Mississippi State who spent his first four seasons with the Raiders, Autry really started making his mark after the Colts signed him to a three-year, $17,8 million deal in 2018. Autry had two double-digit sack seasons with Indy through 2020, and he did so from just about every gap. He’s continued that through the first two years of the three-year, $21,5 million deal he signed with the Titans in 2021. Though he missed time with a knee injury in 2022, he still amassed eight sacks, 12 quarterback hits, and 3 quarterback hurries in just 388 pass-rushing snaps.
Whether on the edge or inside, Autry (No. 96) just has a knack for blowing up your blocking schemes and getting to the quarterback. And he shows no signs of slowing down when healthy, though he’ll turn 33 on July 15.
Autry, who is set to be part of one of the fiercest defensive fronts in the NFL, is entering the final year of his deal, so the Titans will have a decision to make regarding the veteran, who is getting a bit long in the tooth.
However, until he shows decline, something he has yet to do, the Titans should be very interested in keeping him around past this season, and preferably on a one-year deal.
