(Photo: SBNation)
7. Derrick Henry– After tomorrow, the first half of the list will be concluded and these always move so quickly, don’t they? This next player is another guy I’ve been watching since his college days with the Alabama Crimson Tide. To this day, he’s put together the best season I’ve ever seen from a collegiate Running Back which was in 2015 when he won the Heisman and a National Title in the same season. Since coming into the NFL, he’s added the old-school feel to the Running Back position. After spending the first eight seasons of his career in Nashville, he became a free agent and the Ravens signed him. In the words of Clifford “T.I.” Harris, the King’s Back! Derrick Henry makes his return to the list for the first time since 2021 and has claimed the seventh spot and enters this year as my second-ranked Running Back entering this upcoming season.
When the Titans released him, there was no other team that I thought would be a better fit for him than the Ravens! With his style of play and how Baltimore runs the football downhill, it was a tailor made fit for player and franchise. Derrick maybe older, but he still is elite and can be productive when healthy. I’ve spoken enough on how big of a guy he is and how he’s 6’3 and weighs 247 pounds which is the same height and weight as some defenders. Let’s talk about how some wrote him off and he put together one of his best seasons in 2024. In order for Derrick to make an impact, he needed to touch the ball between 21–26 times as I mentioned countless times on Monday Evening Quarterback, The Prime, The Betting Window and on this site and anytime he touched the ball under 20 times, it resulted in a loss. Derrick’s style of playing hasn’t changed one bit as he’s still that battering ram that is always looking downhill and will power himself into that second and third level of the defense consistently. When playing against him as a defender, always remember it’s going to be a battle and may the best man win. Derrick is still elusive and will either run around you or through you, you choose. I’ve always found myself saying Derrick is a freight train with track star speed and as the game goes on, he gets stronger. All he knows is downhill and will play small to fit through the smallest of spaces and get those tough yards, or he can carry guys with him who are attempting to tackle him. Derrick will use his grown man strength to bolster his way through for yards or the touchdown. We always say to feed the big fella and when you do, he benefits from that. His speed doesn’t get discussed enough as he is one of the quickest from a straight line speed aspect. When he breaks away into the open field, good luck trying to catch him or bring him down because he will turn the burners on.
Each time I think of his debut season in a Ravens’ uniform, one play comes to mind and it happened in week four on a Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills. It was Baltimore’s first offensive play of the game and they called his number and he took it to the house for 87 yards and the touchdown. Also in that same game, he kept running and running to finish that game with 199 yards rushing on 24 carries to the point that the Bills couldn’t stop him. Derrick was a key piece of a Ravens offense that ranked amongst the top in the league last year. In May, the team gave him a contract extension to remain in Baltimore. He and Lamar Jackson have made quite the tandem.
