Derrick Henry has made it to where LeVeon Bell and Melvin Gordon have been before him. Congratulations? Sad reality is that NFL teams don’t tend to pay running backs.
There’s no disputing that Henry was special on Saturday. Again. He banged out 182 yards last week at New England, and he was just as impressive against the Ravens, rumbling for 195. Two good defenses, and Henry killed both of them.
His next game will be either Kansas City or Houston. Henry ran for 211 yards against the Texans in Week 17. He went for 188 in a win over Kansas City in Week 10. Henry also went for 156 yards in a playoff win at Arrowhead two years ago.
| 150 RUSHING YARDS IN PLAYOFF GAMES (since 2000) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Year | Opp | Result | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
| Lamar Smith, Mia. | 2000 | Ind. | W 23-17 | 40 | 209 | 5.2 | 2 |
| Ryan Grant, G.B. | 2007 | Sea. | W 42-20 | 27 | 201 | 7.4 | 3 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 2019 | at Balt. | W 28-12 | 30 | 195 | 6.5 | 0 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 2019 | at N.E. | W 20-13 | 34 | 182 | 5.4 | 1 |
| Colin Kaepernick, S.F. | 2012 | G.B. | W 45-31 | 16 | 181 | 11.3 | 2 |
| Priest Holmes, K.C. | 2003 | Ind. | L 31-38 | 24 | 176 | 7.3 | 2 |
| LeVeon Bell, Pitt. | 2016 | at K.C. | W 18-16 | 30 | 170 | 5.7 | 0 |
| Cedric Benson, Cin. | 2009 | NYJ | L 14-24 | 21 | 169 | 8.1 | 1 |
| LeVeon Bell, Pitt. | 2016 | Mia. | W 30-12 | 29 | 167 | 5.8 | 2 |
| LeGarrette Blount, N.E. | 2013 | Ind. | W 43-22 | 24 | 166 | 6.9 | 4 |
| Thomas Rawls, Sea. | 2016 | Det. | W 26-6 | 27 | 161 | 6.0 | 1 |
| Ray Rice, Balt. | 2009 | at N.E. | W 33-14 | 22 | 159 | 7.2 | 2 |
| Marshall Faulk, St.L. | 2001 | Phil. | W 29-24 | 31 | 159 | 5.1 | 2 |
| Charlie Garner, Oak. | 2001 | NYJ | W 38-24 | 15 | 158 | 10.5 | 1 |
| Marshawn Lynch, Sea. | 2014 | G.B. | W 28-22 | 25 | 157 | 6.3 | 1 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 2017 | at K.C. | W 22-21 | 23 | 156 | 6.8 | 1 |
| Ahman Green, G.B. | 2003 | at Phil. | L 17-20 | 25 | 156 | 6.2 | 0 |
| Arian Foster, Hou. | 2011 | Cin. | W 31-10 | 24 | 153 | 6.4 | 2 |
| DeShaun Foster, Car. | 2005 | at NYG | W 23-0 | 27 | 151 | 5.6 | 0 |
Henry’s timing has been perfect. He won a rushing title. He’s been the most compelling player of the postseason. Now his contract is expiring at the end of the season. As a second-round draft pick, his slotted contract was worth about $5.4 million for four years. He’s blown that deal out of the water.
But unfortunately, the current labor deal doesn’t really allow him to cash in. With the existing framework of franchise and transition tags, he won’t be a true free agent, restricting his ability to be paid his true worth.
The Titans likely will put a franchise tag on Henry, but that will guarantee him only slightly more than $12 million for one season. Less likely, they could use the transition tag, locking them in for only about $10 million for one year (while risking that some other team signed Henry to an offer that they wouldn’t want to match).
The franchise tag guarantees a player will be paid the average of the top 5 at his position from the previous year. The transition tag guarantees the average of the top 10.
It’s not a good system. Teammate Ryan Tannehill, for example, is also going to be a free agent. Because he’s a quarterback, he’s probably going to make about twice as much per year as Henry. To me, that seems out of whack. Over these past two months, it’s been Henry more than Tannehill that’s been the compelling player. Henry’s the guy who’s causing televisions to turn on. If you look in the crowd, you’ll see a lot more people wearing jerseys with his number.
It’s annoying. I hope they get it fixed in the next labor agreement. Running backs have shorter careers than the players at other positions. It would be nice if they were given more of a chance to put their skills on the open market while there was still some juice left in their legs.
Henry has done a lot of nice things for the Titans over the last four years. He hasn’t really yet been fairly compensated for his work.
| BACKS AVERAGING OVER $2 MILLION | ||
|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Avg |
| Ezekiel Elliott | Dall. | $15,000,000 |
| Todd Gurley | LAR | $14,375,000 |
| LeVeon Bell | NYJ | $13,125,000 |
| David Johnson | Ariz. | $13,000,000 |
| Devonta Freeman | Atl. | $8,250,000 |
| Saquon Barkley | NYG | $7,798,688 |
| Jerick McKinnon | S.F. | $7,500,000 |
| Leonard Fournette | Jac. | $6,786,894 |
| Lamar Miller | Hou. | $6,500,000 |
| Duke Johnson | Hou. | $5,203,333 |
| Mark Ingram | Balt. | $5,000,000 |
| Dion Lewis | Ten. | $4,950,000 |
| Giovani Bernard | Cin. | $4,850,000 |
| Christian McCaffrey | Car. | $4,310,326 |
| Tevin Coleman | S.F. | $4,250,000 |
| James White | N.E. | $4,000,000 |
| Latavius Murray | N.O. | $3,600,000 |
| Chris Thompson | Was. | $3,500,000 |
| Rex Burkhead | N.E. | $3,250,000 |
| Jalen Richard | Oak. | $3,095,000 |
| Mike Davis | Car. | $3,000,000 |
| LeSean McCoy | K.C. | $3,000,000 |
| Josh Jacobs | Oak. | $2,983,350 |
| Raheem Mostert | S.F. | $2,900,000 |
| Carlos Hyde | Hou. | $2,800,000 |
| Rashaad Penny | Sea. | $2,691,359 |
| Melvin Gordon | LAC | $2,667,441 |
| Damien Williams | K.C. | $2,550,000 |
| Adrian Peterson | Was. | $2,515,000 |
| Theo Riddick | Den. | $2,500,000 |
| Sony Michel | N.E. | $2,406,674 |
| Peyton Barber | T.B. | $2,125,000 |
| Frank Gore | Buff. | $2,000,000 |
Average per-year dollars come from the OverTheCap.com website.
—Ian Allan