Derrick Henry is about to make his Hall of Fame case even stronger
NASHVILLE — As it stands, Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry already has a pretty strong case for being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Henry is without question one of the greatest running backs of his era. Since 2018, Henry is the NFL’s leading rusher by over 1,200 rushing yards. He’s one […]
NASHVILLE — As it stands, Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry already has a pretty strong case for being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Henry is without question one of the greatest running backs of his era. Since 2018, Henry is the NFL’s leading rusher by over 1,200 rushing yards. He’s one of eight running backs to ever surpass 2,000 yards in a single season, and he led the league in yards, yards per game, and touchdowns in back-to-back years from 2019-2020.
Not a bad resume at all. But Henry is about to make his case even stronger.
It’s easy to look at Henry’s career numbers and say he doesn’t belong. He’s 39th on the all-time rushing leaderboard while players such as Fred Taylor, Steven Jackson, and Corey Dillon are in the Top 20 rushing leaders with over 11,000 career yards, but are not in the Hall of Fame.
It's rare to see running backs inducted unless they reach the 12,000 yard mark, but Henry is an exception to the rule because of his dominance in an era that doesn’t value running the football.
With 64 more rushing yards this season, the 29-year-old Titans running back will become just the eighth player in NFL history to surpass 9,000 rushing yards and 80 rushing touchdowns before turning 30.
The other players that have done it? Just a few guys named Adrian Peterson, Marshall Fault, LaDainian Tomlinson, Jim Brown, Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders, and Emmitt Smith. That's some pretty good company.
There’s no telling how much longer Henry is going to play or how long he’ll be a primary running back in the league. In today's game, teams cycle through running backs very quickly, so Henry might be hard pressed to find a team that will give him 200+ carries at age 31.
Now if he adds another 2,000 yards to his career over the next few years and is well over the 10k mark, he’s a shoe-in for Canton. But even if he doesn’t, the 9k milestone he’s currently approaching is a pretty good resume builder.
It separates Henry as having one of the most dominant starts to a career in NFL history without the workload of a full-time running back in his first two years. Quite frankly, we may never see a running back reach 9,000 yards before age 30 again.
Hall of Fame cases should be made by comparing a player to the rest of their era, not by comparing career numbers to those currently enshrined. When you look at Henry compared to the other running backs of the late 2010s and 2020s, there's nobody on his level. The King belongs in Canton.
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