There could hardly have been a better, more obvious fit in all of free agency than Derrick Henry to the Ravens.
Gus Edwards, But Good? Sign me up.
The Ravens were the best rushing team in football last season by a wide margin. They've been the best running team in football ever since Lamar Jackson took over at quarterback, and it hasn't even really been close. Baltimore has consistently run the ball as well as anyone season after season.
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What's wild is how the Ravens have been so efficient running the ball — because it typically hasn't been with incredible running backs or elite RB production.
Baltimore typically has a good-not-great offensive line with a lot of injury issues in recent years, but the beauty of the Ravens' attack is that it's been built almost entirely around the scheme and one-of-one abilities of Jackson.
That means the Ravens have rotated through names like Gus Edwards, JK Dobbins, Justice Hill, Mark Ingram, Latavius Murray and other similar players in recent seasons.
Ingram was a high draft pick but played in Baltimore late in his career, and the rest of these guys mostly fit a similar pattern: power backs on cheap contracts, leftover guys on cheap contracts, guys no one else wanted.
In many ways, that's what Henry should be. Henry is a 30-year-old running back. He has over 2,000 career carries and has led the league in rushing attempts in four of the past five seasons. We know what happens to guys like this in 2024. They're left for dead, over-the-hill has-beens no one wants to pay. They're done. They had their turn.
Only Henry isn't like that. Like Jackson, Henry is one of one. He's #builtdifferent.
Henry dwarfs the other NFL warriors on the field. He's the rare player who gets better, not rundown, late in games and late in the season.
You know all those Chuck Norris jokes we used to tell? Henry is the Chuck Norris of the NFL. He doesn't sleep. He waits. He waits til late in games, late in the season and then pounds it down defenses' throats. Henry's yards per carry (YPC) goes up in December and January. He's built for bad weather games, ready-made for playoff football.
And that's why this is such an exciting, awesome move for Baltimore.
Here are the Ravens, a team known for failing on the biggest stage of the postseason in recent years now adding the absolute perfect piece for a postseason run. Henry is the ultimate closer. He's Mariano Rivera.
Oh, you're tired after chasing Jackson around for the last three quarters? Awesome. Here's Derrick Henry running it down your throat 12 times this drive to kill the game off. Have fun with that.
Oh, it's cold, snowy and no one wants to be on the field? Well, send those guys on the field and tell them to get in the way of this Mack truck bearing down on them in subzero temperatures when that flight to Cancun is waiting tomorrow.
Running backs don't matter in the NFL these days — not most of them, not for most teams.
Running backs haven't mattered in Baltimore! The Ravens just pick someone off the scrap heap, plug them in, and they run for 4.5 yards a pop:
- Gus Edwards, 4.9 YPC with the Ravens and at 5.0 or better all but this season
- Mark Ingram, 4.8 YPC with Baltimore
- Justice Hill, 4.6 YPC
- Keaton Mitchell last season: 8.6 YPC!
Henry has a career average of 4.7 YPC. That goes up to 4.9 in November, 5.1 in December and 5.9 in January. He's a beast. A monster. He's the closer.
He might be that final piece that puts the Ravens over the top, and that's a statement that could only possibly be true of maybe two or three other running backs on two or three other teams.
Henry will be as important a running back as anyone else in football next season. He makes me believe in Ravens futures when I haven't truly believed at any point in the last half-decade.
I won't be grabbing a Henry MVP ticket. I don't think I'll necessarily bet him to lead the league in rushing yards either. That's not in Baltimore's interest. Jackson will pass plenty under Todd Monken, and the Ravens will be smart about this. No need to run Henry into the ground in September and October — not at this stage of his career.
One ticket I'll grab as soon as it pops: Henry to lead the league in rushing touchdowns.
He's had double-digit rushing TDs in six straight seasons, averaging 13.3 in that stretch. The Ravens have ranked top-10 in rushing TDs all but one season with Jackson and sat top-four in four of them. Henry will have games where he runs 15 times for 40 yards but scored two or three times anyway. He could push 15 or 20 TDs if healthy.
And start keeping an eye on those Ravens playoff futures. With Henry in tow, the Ravens finally have their closer.
