The numbers behind Derrick Henry’s quiet 2025 season point to a deeper issue for the Ravens — and it’s not just his age
How much of Derrick Henry’s 2025 regression is on Derrick Henry?
The Baltimore Ravens doubled down on one of their big free agent investments of 2024 this summer, offering running back Derrick Henry a two-year, $30 million contract extension after he rolled up an average of 113 rushing yards per game and posted 1,921 rushing yards in total on the ground during the 2024 regular season. It felt, at the time, like a well-deserved reward for an incredible season.
But Henry’s performance thus far in 2025, much like the rest of the Ravens team, has been superbly underwhelming. Henry is on pace for 1,078 rushing yards this season after five games for the Ravens — and the Los Angeles Rams are up next on the schedule. Life isn’t going to get any easier, especially with an ailing Lamar Jackson hamstring.
But how much of Henry’s statistical regression in 2025 is his own doing?
The numbers behind Derrick Henry’s reduced production in 2025
Henry’s most elite trait has always been his ability to create added yardage for himself as a runner. For the entirety of his NFL career, he’s averaged 3.63 yards after contact per carry on more than 2,400 carries. Among running backs with at least 100 carries since 2016, that mark is tops in the NFL. He’s the master of created yardage because of his combination of size, power, burst and balance.
He’s not quite on that pace in 2025 — but it isn’t necessarily an indication of a player in total regression just yet. Henry’s averaging 3.19 yards after contact per rush thus far this season, which would be the lowest figure he’s posted in that statistic since his rookie season with the Titans in 2016. Henry averaged 3.50 yards after contact per rush last year with the Ravens.
So where did the production go?
Derrick Henry’s rushing production in 2025
- 64 rushing attempts
- 317 rushing yards
- 5.0 yards per rush
- 2 fumbles lost
- 4 rushing touchdowns
The splits are much more alarming before contact for the Ravens and suggest a much bigger issue is at play than ‘Derrick Henry is getting old’.
Henry was afforded 2.41 yards before contact per rush in 2024 with the Ravens, which was sixth-tenths of a yard more than the next best season of his career. That number is down nearly three-quarters of a yard in 2025. So Henry is, in total, getting fewer opportunities and the Ravens are blocking less effectively for him while also seeing Henry earn incrementally less yardage per rush than he did last year.
It’s a compounding mess of variables that won’t get any easier to sort out if Jackson continues to miss time. And with a Ravens defense that currently can’t stop a nosebleed, more opportunities feel fleeting as well. So for now, Henry must try to sustain his standard of earning the yardage on his own — but at least he’s still in the ballpark of his career standard. Not that that should make anyone feel better with Baltimore sitting at 1-4.
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