The Crowning of King Henry

Is Baltimore the right fit for Derrick Henry?

“All hail, the new king in town.”

That’s the opening bar of the Prince song, “Partyman.” I can’t think of a better opening line to describe the long-awaited arrival of running back Derrick “King” Henry to Baltimore.

It’s a coronation of a back who tortured the Ravens at different points in his career – most notably and famously in the 2020 AFC Divisional round. The 247-pound sledgehammer presents the rarest of the rare, a runner with uncharted size combined with the speed to sprint past defenders in the open field. He is one of the smartest players to ever play the position, with sneaky ability as a passer (shades of Marcus Allen and LaDainian Tomlinson), and with quicker feet than meets the eye.

All in all, Henry is on a first-ballot Hall of Fame path. But at the age of 30, there are some legitimate questions and concerns to consider regarding his future effectiveness.

Is Henry already on the back nine of his career? Will he be able to mesh in a different offense than what he’s been used to for many years in Tennessee? What exactly defines success for this move for the Ravens and Henry alike?

Here are five arguments to support the case that Henry can and should overcome all the odds for one last great run.

1. Time and History Could Stop Henry But Don’t Bet on it

Henry already is a physical anomaly. At the age of 30, he is coming off a 1,100 yard season that is practically unheard of for running backs. Back in the day, it was pretty common. For example the great Curtis Martin won a rushing title at the age of 31.

However, given the way the game has evolved, it is way more of an exception rather than the rule for backs to play well into their 30’s. The last back I can think of who was in the mold of Henry, a near cyborg, was Frank Gore, who was still dominant at the age of 31 and had his last 1,000 yard season for Indianapolis at the age of 33.

In my mind, Henry fits more of the Gore mold rather than the Todd Gurley mold. But there are legitimate concerns. The Titans ran the hell out of Henry. He has had 300+ attempts three different times in his career.

Then again, every time I have waited for him to fall off a cliff in production, just as Martin did after his rushing championship, there hasn’t been anything of the sort.

Maybe you can point to efficiency, which wasn’t nearly as strong for Henry in 2023 as it has been in other seasons. But that leads me to my next point…

2. It was the Titans, Not Henry

The fact that Henry even gained over 1,100 yards in the 2023 Titans offense is an accomplishment. They were such a terrible unit. The offensive line was arguably one of the worst, if not the worst, in the entire league. The quarterback situation was abysmal all season.

For added evidence of how bad the Titans truly were, Ian Hartiz found that Tennessee had the 30th ranking in yards per carry (YPC) before contact. Conversely, Henry averaged the eighth best average of yards after contact in the league at the age of 30.

Derrick Henry yards AFTER contact per carry:
2023: 3.3 (8th)
2022: 3.6 (4th)
2021: 3.3 (9th)
2020: 3.9 (2nd)

Titans yards BEFORE contact per carry:
2023: 0.9 (30th)
2022: 1.0 (30th)
2021: 1.3 (18th)
2020: 1.5 (13th)

Ravens yards before contact per carry:
2020-23: 1.8 (1st)

— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) March 12, 2024

The year prior, Henry ranked fourth and the Titans still ranked 30th.

What that means, ultimately, is Henry wasn’t even able to find daylight much of the time. He’s a back that needs space to get rolling downhill. But stopping him meant defenses could key in and devote all their resources to gaining penetration in the backfield – which is also the essential way to stymie a zone-based blocking scheme.

On the other hand, the team that led the league in yards per carry before contact was none other than Baltimore.

3. Playing with Lamar Creates Space

The YPC stat that Baltimore hangs its hat on is no doubt fueled by having Lamar Jackson at quarterback. The opposite effect of what Henry experienced in 2023, playing with absolutely no viable threat to take the pressure off him, is what Jackson presents. He is a magnet for defensive attention.

Defenses have to remain attentive to Jackson’s ability to keep the ball on the read option. They have to honor their back side commitment. They have to commit to lane integrity and discipline. But sometimes that can mean sacrificing sheer aggressiveness to run blitz and blow plays up in the backfield.

Ultimately, for a player like Henry, it means having more space to operate on the initial handoff. Lanes should open up simply with eyes focused on Jackson and his movement. It’s a pick your poison scenario with Henry in the backfield.

If defenses shoot the gaps to try and collapse on Henry, Jackson will have the chance to hit the perimeter off tackle.

All of this should lead to more room and efficiency for Henry.

Playing with Lamar is like summoning a cheat code.

4. Henry is a Scheme-Proof Back

The conversation around how Jackson and Henry will mesh together in the same backfield is also contingent on both players adapting to one another. While it all looks great on paper, there is a well-reasoned argument that Henry – who is one of the great outside zone runners in NFL history – is a wonky fit for what the Ravens like to do with their running game.

Specifically, Baltimore has mostly lived in a read option world to showcase Jackson’s talents as a ball handler and runner. Meanwhile, Henry is used to operating from behind center. In the zone scheme, the back’s movement flows off the quarterback and the way the line is moving, so the back’s take off point and reads can be totally different from that starting position.

There are reasons to believe that Henry will be just fine, though. For one, this version of the Ravens, phasing away from former offensive coordinator Greg Roman, has weaved in more inside zone and outside zone than ever before. Under Todd Monken, the offense has not only run more zone, they have also operated more from under center.

On the flip side, Henry has indeed carried the ball from the read-option position. According to our friend Jonas Shaffer, from those plays, Henry has carried the ball 11 times for 155 yards and two touchdowns.

Derrick Henry on read options in 2022: 11 carries, 155 yards, 2 touchdowns (via @SportsInfo_SIS)

The read option production wasn't there in 2023, but not hard to imagine a fit in Baltimore next to Lamar Jackson. pic.twitter.com/45GWIiSiQI

— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) March 12, 2024

Pretty good, right?

As I mentioned before, Henry is one of the smartest RBs to play the game. He has incredible instincts and work ethic. I have no doubt he would be able to handle more read option touches without a hitch.

Monken, Jackson and Henry will probably land at some kind of half and half solution for the offense, which quite frankly, is beneficial to Lamar’s longevity anyway. That leads to my last point…

5. Henry Doesn’t Need to be the Same Workhorse But Can Take Over When Needed

This is a winning addition for Lamar as much as anyone. The running game really should funnel through Henry, who can handle the punishment. He is built for it. Jackson, for as great of a runner as he is, needs to carry the ball less, and the Ravens front office, coaching staff, all know that.

Henry represents the most prototypical lead back Baltimore has had since probably the Ray Rice days and certainly since Jamal Lewis. So he can handle the rock 30-35 times if he needs to.

But the beauty of this situation for Henry is the Ravens, in turn, won’t need to run him into the ground as the Titans did. They have options on offense. Justice Hill remains on the team and has shown he can be dangerous with 10-15 touches a game. Then there is their electric rookie from last season, Keaton Mitchell, who looked like a star in the making before tearing his ACL late in the season.

Henry doesn’t need to be the entire offense in Baltimore. There might be games where he only touches the ball 12-15 times based on game script. I could even envision a scenario where Monken gets more out of Henry as a receiver to keep defenses honest.

The interesting part is that Henry actually averaged 30 passes between 2022 and 2023, which might not seem like much, but it was easily the most involved as a receiver he has been and he’s actually averaged over 9.0 YPR in his career – a higher average than Saquan Barkley, for example.

No, I’m not saying Henry is Barkley, before I get misquoted. But what I am saying is Henry is a multi-dimensional threat and should be deployed all over the field.

Bottom Line

Henry doesn’t need to be Superman saving the world on his own anymore. At the age of 30, with a ton of tread, it would be foolish for Baltimore to put too much of the offense on his shoulders. But having him as a closer is what you bet on, especially in the postseason, when he’s been one of the best backs in NFL history.

It is clear he has plenty left to be a force multiplier for the entire offense in a way that the other RBs they have had – as good as they have been at times – simply never could approach in the same way.

How could they? Henry is a generational back and his talent is from another galaxy.

With Henry, the Ravens are looking for that final push towards a Super Bowl.

It’s hard to bet against him giving them their best possible shot when he’s defied the odds already.

[Knee Jerk Reactions to the Derrick Henry signing]