Derrick Henry is chasing history as the last of his kind

"And that whole world is an old and faded picture in my mind.
Am I the last of my kind" - Jason Isbell

The modern day NFL has devalued running backs to the point that Derrick Henry was a bargain free agent. The Baltimore Ravens signed him away from the Tennessee Titans for a meager average annual value (AAV) of $8 million. The Titans, the team he'd given eight years of his career to, and countless legendary moments and over 9,000 rushing yards, were content to let him walk away.

Running backs are deemed unimportant in today's NFL; why pay top dollar for a running back when you can draft a rookie in the fourth round and get similar production? Some GM's operate under never paying a second contract to a back and just consistently replacing them every few years with younger, fresher guys with less mileage on more affordable contracts.

The outliers on the market are typically guys who function about as much as receivers as they do running backs. The Alvin Kamara's, Christian McCaffrey's, Saquon Barkley's. The days of the workhorse, ground-and-pound style of back is long gone.

But when you watch Derrick Henry, it's like looking through an open window to the past. It's like Doc Brown pulls up in a DeLorean every Sunday and lets you relive days that are long gone, if only for an afternoon or evening. He's a vestige of a bygone era. A traditional running back in a non-traditional world.

Running backs used to dominate the game of football. You think of all time great NFL players and your mind pretty quickly goes to the elite running backs of yesteryear - Jim Brown and Walter Payton then giving way to Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders who passed the torch to LaDanian Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson.

But even before Peterson could hand them up, running backs started mattering as little as they ever had. It became a quarterback-driven league. Top picks in the draft became quarterbacks, left tackles, and edge rushers. To win you needed a great QB, someone to protect him, and someone to get after the opposing QB.

Derrick Henry had a legendary junior season at Alabama, culminating in a Heisman Trophy and leading the Crimson Tide to the 2015 national title. That made him good enough to be the 45th pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.

It's funny to look back on how scouts at both the college and then the pro level thought his size would be a weakness; that he wasn't going to be fast enough, he didn't run low enough, that he feasted on lower competition in high school and then ran behind a great offensive line in college.

Henry's size has been his biggest weapon. Nobody at 250-pounds should be able to move the way he does. Especially nobody at his size, and at his age. Henry crossed the 30-plateau early in 2024, an age that typically means the end for NFL running backs.

Zeke Elliott was selected in the same draft as Henry, and is a full year younger. Elliott was a dominant back in his prime, but at 29-years-old looks like a shell of his former self.

By all accounts, Henry should be on the back nine of his career, much closer to pulling into the clubhouse than teeing off on #10.

But Henry instead looks like he's still on the front nine, with freshly laced Nike's and little to no dirt on his clubs.

There was a tweet last night from Rodger Sherman that really got me thinking as the main impetus for this writing:

Henry might not be the last Hall-of-Fame running back, but it's going to be a long time before we see anyone like him. Offenses aren't built around the running game anymore, but even an NFL team with a two-time MVP at QB can't help but build around the otherworldy talent of Henry.

Last night's 199-yard performance moved Henry to 32nd on the NFL's all-time rushing list, just 18-yards away from 10,000. He's now the leading rusher in the NFL, again, through four weeks, averaging a career best 6.0 yards-per-carry.

He's currently on pace for his second 2,000 rushing yard season. He'll probably come down from that pace as the season goes on, but if Henry finshes the year with 1500 rushing yards, he'll eclipse 11,000 yards for his career and move past Warrick Dunn for 23rd all time.

Another 1500 yard season in 2025 would push him past Jim Brown and make him a mortal lock for the Hall-of-Fame.

He'll need good health, but with how Henry takes care of his body and not showing any signs of slowing down despite being over 30, it's not an inconceivable thought that he could challenge Emmitt Smith's all-time rushing record of 18,355. If not that, then he could move past Frank Gore and Walter Payton for No. 2.

It's a tall task, but if watching Derrick Henry run the football for over a decade has taught me anything, it's that you underestimate him at your own peril.

He's the last of his kind, and maybe even the first, and he's put a forgotten about position on his back, and he's barreling toward the endzone.