On the other hand, he still ran with shocking speed for aīig man, as rushing champ Jonathan Taylor was the only running back to post a faster top He averaged 2.2 yards afterĬontact in 2021, following 3.2 in 2019 and 2.8 in 2020, and his 10 broken tackles in those eight Yards per carry was a step back from his performance the previous two seasons, and theĭownturn partially came from breaking tackles at a lower rate. Were signs his huge workload was catching up to him, even before he got hurt. Seeing eight-man fronts 36 percent of the time, one of the highest marks in the league. He averaged career highs of 27.4 carries and 2.5 targets per game, upįrom 23.6 and 1.9 the year before, and ran for 937 yards and 10 TDs in eight games despite Read Past OutlooksĪ foot injury that cost him the second half of last season was the main obstacle standingīetween Henry and a third consecutive rushing title, and maybe even a second consecutiveĢ,000-yard campaign. Other running backs would've slowed down years ago with usage like Henry's, but it hasn't happened to him yet. He'll turn 30 in January and is coming off four straight seasons with more than 20 carries per game, so the specter of decline understandably might give some fantasy investors pause, though it's difficult to tell what rules apply to a runner as freakishly built as the 247-pound Henry. Not just that, but Henry showed real growth as a pass catcher, drawing a career-high 41 targets (previous high 31) and catching 33 for 398 yards (a new high by 192 yards). Henry's 10 carries of 20-plus yards last year are the second most of his career, and his four carries of 40-plus tied a career high from 2020. Henry had no trouble planting the foot and inflicting his customary level of punishment on defenders, and encouragingly his big-play ability was about the same as ever. Tennessee Titans fans are excited to see him play against his 31st team, but they also really hope that he never gets to play that 32nd team.Henry's remarkable career appears to be trending downward somewhat, or at least that's true of the Titans in general, but he was still plenty capable in 2022 and settled any concerns regarding the foot injury that he suffered in 2021. It won't do anything for his Hall of Fame resume, but it is a fun way to get a star player motivated early in the season. Again, think about how durable Derrick Henry has been with just one real injury at the NFL level, and it took him eight years to do this. You also have to stay healthy for all of those games AND start from Week 1 because if you miss one game, you might be stuck waiting for the cycle to repeat in four years. Considering that the NFL cycles through matchups between the AFC/NFC North, South, East, and West every season, you have to make sure that you get to see each division in the opposing conference. First, you have to play with the same team for at least four years. This is a difficult thing to do because it means that a few things have to happen. Every team has seen Derrick HenryĪfter his first snap on Sunday, Derrick Henry will have played against every team in the NFL aside from the team that drafted him.ĭespite having the New Orleans Saints on the schedule twice, Henry was held out against the Saints in 2019 to make sure that he was ready for the Tennessee Titans playoff run, and in 2021 he missed that game because of the one serious injury that he has had over the course of his entire career. Those are all things to monitor throughout the year as Henry continues to build that Hall of Fame resume, but he will be able to achieve one milestone this Sunday. With 250 yards he will pass Earl Campbell for career rushing yards with the Titans/Oilers, and if he can reach 1,675 yards he will pass Eddie George. This season he will be chasing franchise records with a franchise that has the best running back Mount Rushmore in the NFL with Earl Campbell, Eddie George, Derrick Henry, and Chris Johnson. He has also tied the NFL record for 200+ yard rushing games in a career, and only three players in NFL history have more yards per attempt than Henry through their first seven seasons and they are all Hall of Famers: Jim Brown, Adrian Peterson, and Barry Sanders (minimum of 7,000 rushing yards). He led the NFL in both rushing touchdowns and rushing yards in two of the last four seasons. He has been the most dominant running back in the NFL for nearly half a decade. Most notably, Henry had over 2,000 rushing yards in 2020 which would have earned him the MVP if that award hadn't already become an award only given to quarterbacks. Over the course of his now eight-year career, Henry has done a great job building a Hall of Fame resume. When Derrick Henry takes his first snap against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, the Tennessee Titans running back will achieve a milestone that very few players in the NFL can claim.
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