Derrick Henry was drafted into the NFL long after the era when teams centered their offense around a star running back. Through much of his career, Henry has played in an NFL that was more pass happy than ever and relied on a backfield-by-committee approach. Even with the structure of the league and offenses stacked against running backs, Henry has made history that no other running back has achieved.
With a 138-yard, two touchdown performance against the Cleveland Browns on Saturday, Henry now has 1,921 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns on the season, making him the first player in NFL history with multiple seasons of at least 1,800 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns. He accomplished this feat on his 31st birthday on Saturday.
Henry previously reached these rushing numbers in 2020, when he rushed for 2,027 yards and 17 touchdowns with the Titans. On Saturday, he also set the Ravens single-season franchise touchdowns record and is now tied for sixth all-time in league history for rushing touchdowns.
In fairness to the other great running backs in NFL history, Henry had an extra game to surpass 1,800 yards. Heading into the 17th game of the season, Henry was 17 yards short of that 1,800-yard mark. Henry plays in a new era of 17-game seasons, whereas the majority of great running backs played in either 14 or 16 game seasons. The great Jim Brown even played in 12-game seasons early in his career.
Even so, Henry’s accomplishments are beyond impressive, especially in the passing era he plays in. For his quarterback Lamar Jackson, breaking records is simply what Henry does.
“They keep saying he broke the record for this and broke the record for that. King Henry … he do that week in and week out.”
Jackson had a record-setting evening himself against the Browns by becoming the first quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards and rush for at least 800 yards in a single season. Together, Jackson and Henry form one of the NFL’s most dangerous duos, and helped the Ravens become the first offense in NFL history with at least 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in the same season.
