While most of the hype surrounded the addition of wide receiver Julio Jones last season, the Tennessee Titans’ best offseason move by a mile was the signing of defensive lineman Denico Autry.
The Titans inked Autry to a three-year, $21.5 million deal, which at the time we were big fans of. Now, after a year in the two-tone blue, Autry’s deal looks like a total steal.
In his first season in Nashville, the Mississippi State product tied his career-high with nine sacks, good enough for second-most on the Titans and top 20 in the NFL.
Overall, Autry played a key role in Tennessee’s defensive revival as one of four members of a vaunted front four that was among the league’s best at getting after the quarterback.
When asked about his sensational 2021 campaign, Autry was modest, saying he just played his role and bought in, something he plans to continue doing in 2022.
“I mean, I bought in and played my role to the best of my ability,” Autry said, according to Jim Wyatt of Titans Online. “Just buy in and keep being the best teammate, that’s all I can do.”
As the old adage goes, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” but Autry isn’t subscribing to that when it comes to offseason workouts.
Instead, he has switched things up by adding boxing and CrossFit to his routine. In regard to the former, Autry says it has helped “a lot.”
“Change up my workouts, change over to CrossFit, boxing a little bit, just trying to stay in shape the most I can do,” Autry said. “Rob Mathis was just working our hands with pass-rush and I just kind of bought into boxing.”
As good as Autry was in 2021, it stands to reason he could be even better in 2022 now that he has a full year of being in defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s system, and that should be a scary thought for opposing offenses.
