Tennessee Titans clap back at Kay Adams’ viral Derrick Henry Ravens retirement bait post
Former Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry visited with Kay Adams during Baltimore Ravens training camp… and the team that drafted Henry bit back at Adams’ bait job.
The Tennessee Titans appear to have fired back at Kay Adams after her viral, misleading tweet about Derrick Henry wanting to retire as a Baltimore Raven.
NFL teams are very much online. They employ entire teams to manage the online presence of their brand and franchise. So when Adams’ exchange with Henry from Ravens training camp went viral on Wednesday, and her tweet caption twisted what he actually said, the Titans’ Instagram response the next morning felt like anything but a coincidence.
Let’s start with what actually happened. Adams had Henry on her “Up and Adams” show live from the Ravens training camp facility in Maryland. Here’s the exchange that went viral.
“I look out here and I’m seeing these beautiful trees and this like lodge atmosphere. It looks like a nice place to end, to retire. Looks like a nice place to… when you are ready to, to end,” Adams began. “I just want to hear that this is where you came and you saw this place and you go, this is where I see myself for the rest.”
“When I’m done playing, I want to be done playing here. So when I hang it up, yeah, Baltimore will be the last place I want to be,” Henry replied.
The video itself is nothing crazy. Honestly, it’s not that well done by Adams. She tries to lead Henry on, and Henry does a good job of saying what he actually meant: he doesn’t want to play for a third franchise. He wants to finish his career with the Baltimore Ravens. There’s a massive difference between finishing your career somewhere and retiring as a member of that franchise.
Kay Adams’ tweet twists Derrick Henry’s words
Then Adams tweeted this out for the whole world to see, knowing exactly what she was doing.
That is not what Derrick Henry told Kay Adams. Henry clearly said he does not want to play for a third franchise. Retiring as a Raven carries a completely different weight than finishing your playing career with Baltimore. Adams took his words and threw them completely overboard, to the point where Henry himself had to respond publicly.
Henry posted on X in response to Adams: I would like to finish my playing career with the Ravens. I never said anything about retiring, LOL. I’m enjoying being a Raven. I’ll worry about that retirement-ish later.
I don’t know if Henry is going to think twice about going on Adams’ show next time, but his correction was necessary. The man had words put in his mouth on a national platform.
The Titans’ Instagram response feels like more than coincidence
On Thursday morning, the Tennessee Titans posted “Titans from the Vault: The King and his 2,000-yard season” on Instagram as part of their Nissan Stadium farewell season content. Maybe it’s just coincidence that the day after Adams runs this enragement bait on Titans fans, the franchise puts together a 20-post Instagram slide honoring Derrick Henry and his legendary 2,000-yard campaign.
When I saw this post… my first thought was this feels like a “he’s ours” shot, as Henry has always talked so highly about the entire Tennessee Titans organization.
The posts roll through iconic moments. The stiff arm heard ’round the world on Josh Norman that actually got called back for a penalty. Photos of Henry stiff-arming defenders, running through tacklers in his different uniforms. The COVID masks that read “Please get the ball to Derrick Henry.” Henry jumping over the pile against the Steelers, celebrating wins in Nissan Stadium with eyes wide seeing the end zone ahead. Celebrating with teammates A.J. Brown, center Ben Jones, and Roger Saffold, Nate Davis, Dennis Kelly, and the rest of that offensive line.
I’m not saying it’s a coincidence. I think the Titans clapped back, and they deservingly should have clapped back at that transparent, sleazy, slimy post from Adams. NFL social media teams know exactly what they’re doing, and this one felt like Tennessee reminding everyone where Derrick Henry became the King.
