Derrick Henry had a slow start to his NFL career after winning the Heisman Trophy at Alabama. He didn’t reach 1,000 rushing yards in a season until his third year in the league. He’s also been trending down for three years (until the last two weeks) since winning back-to-back rushing titles in 2019-20.
So it’d be easy to underrate his career, but make no mistake, he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer and one of the greatest running backs in league history. As he gets ready to eclipse 10,000 rushing yards I want to make sure you know just how special he is.
Henry is 18 yards shy of becoming the 32nd player in NFL history to reach 10,000 rushing yards as the Ravens take on the Bengals on Sunday. So here’s 32 facts on him:
One of best running back primes ever
1. Henry is averaging 100-plus rushing yards and one rushing touchdown per game over his last 81 games, which basically amounts to five seasons of legendary rushing production.
That is tied with LaDainian Tomlinson for the second-longest stretch a player has ever averaged 100 and one. The only running back to ever maintain those averages for a longer time was the all-time leading rusher, Emmitt Smith (95 games from 1991-97).
2. This is the seventh straight season Henry ranks top 10 in rushing yards. Five players since 1970 have had at least seven straight top-10 finishes (Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Eric Dickerson, Walter Payton, LaDainian Tomlinson).
3. Henry finished second in the NFL in rushing last year, his fourth season with a top-two finish. Only Jim Taylor (five), Eric Dickerson (five), Walter Payton (six), Barry Sanders (seven) and Jim Brown (eight) have more top-two finishes.
4. Henry has six straight seasons with at least 10 rushing touchdowns, the third-longest streak in NFL history behind Adrian Peterson (seven) and LaDainian Tomlinson (nine).
All-time great career
5. Henry will be the first player to reach 10,000 rushing yards since Marshawn Lynch on Dec. 31, 2017, almost seven years ago. It’s the longest drought without a 10,000-yard rusher since the first pair to do it, Jim Brown in 1964 and O.J. Simpson in 1977.
6. Henry can become the 13th player in NFL history with 10,000 rush yds (18 shy) and 100 touchdowns (one shy). Of the 12 players in this club, 10 are Hall of Famers, nine are first ballot Hall of Famers, and two are not Hall of Fame eligible yet (Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore).
7. Henry can be the ninth player in NFL history with three-plus rushing titles along with Jim Brown, Steve Van Buren, O.J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson, Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, Earl Campbell and Adrian Peterson.
8. Henry is one of four players in NFL history to lead the NFL in carries at least four times (Jim Brown, Steve Van Buren, Walter Payton). He is the only one to play in the last three decades.
9. Henry has six career games with 200-plus rushing yards, tied with Adrian Peterson and O.J. Simpson for the most in NFL history.
10. Henry had 1,234 rushing yards in his first two seasons. The only 10K club members with fewer are Tiki Barber (677) and Thomas Jones (753).
11. Henry is one of the most decorated running backs ever. He can be the seventh Heisman winner to rush for 10,000 yards in the NFL (Barry Sanders, Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen, Ricky Williams, O.J. Simpson, Eddie George).
Henry vs. the field
12. Henry has more 200-yard rushing games (six) than all other active players combined (five).
13. Henry has three career seasons with 1,500 rush yards and 13 rush touchdowns, as many as all other active players combined (Jonathan Taylor, Ezekiel Elliott, Dalvin Cook each have one).
14. Henry leads the NFL in rushing in 2024, since 2023, since 2022, since 2021, since 2020, since 2019, since 2018, since 2017, since 2016, since 2015, since 2014, since 2013, since 2012, since 2011.
Age is just a number
15. Henry is on pace for 2,040 rushing yards this season. He’s already one of eight players to reach 2,000 yards in a season, and the most recent (2020).
16. Henry is 30, meaning he’s well on pace to break the record for most rush yards in a season at age-30 or older (2005 Tiki Barber: 1,860)
17. Henry is averaging 126.6 rushing yards per game as a starter in his thirties. All other 30-plus year old starting running backs since 1970 average 36.8 rushing yards per game.
18. Henry has formed the NFL’s new dynamic duo with Lamar Jackson. They have combined for 788 rushing yards this season, the most by a running back-quarterback duo through four games of a season in NFL history.
Unparalleled size and speed
Henry may have the greatest combination of size and speed at the position, ever.
19. He’s listed at 6-foot-2, 247 pounds. He will be the second-heaviest player to 10,000 rush yards behind Jerome Bettis (252). Bettis has two career 50-yard touchdown runs. Henry has 12.
20. Henry has 12 career 50-yard rushing touchdowns and is listed at 247 pounds. All other players that heavy have nine 50-yard touchdown runs in the last 30 years (Michael Turner, LeGarrette Blount, Marcel Reece, Le’Ron McLain, Najeh Davenport).
21. His 12 career 50-yard rushing touchdowns are tied with Jim Brown for the third-most in NFL history, behind Barry Sanders (15) and Adrian Peterson (16).
22. His 99-yard rush touchdown in Week 14 of 2018 vs. the Jaguars tied the longest rush in NFL history (Tony Dorsett in 1982).
23. Henry’s 87-yard rush touchdown in Week 4 officially makes him a threat to score anywhere on the field. He is one of six players in NFL history with a touchdown run of 0-9 yds, 10-19 yds, 20-29 yds, 30-39 yds, 40-49 yds, 50-59 yds, 60-69 yds, 70-79 yds, 80-89 yds, 90-99 yds (Tony Dorsett, Adrian Peterson, O.J. Simpson, Nick Chubb, Chris Johnson).
24. He is heavier (247 pounds) than the average linebacker (242 pounds) this season.
25. Henry was clocked at 21.29 MPH on his 87-yard touchdown run in Week 4. That was the fourth-fastest play by any ball carrier this season, and almost as fast as NFL combine record-holder Xavier Worthy (21.46 MPH) on his 54-yard touchdown catch the same week.
26. Henry has hit 20-plus MPH 27 times since 2018. Only Tyreek Hill (73) has done it more in that time, according to Yahoo! Sports per NFL Next Gen Stats.
27. Seventy-seven percent of Henry’s career rushing yards come after he was contacted, the highest rate among any of the NFL’s top 100 rushers since he joined the league in 2016.
28. If you only counted Henry’s yards gained after contact since 2018 (7,481) he would still be the NFL’s leading rusher in that span (Nick Chubb is next at 6,511 rush yards).
29. Eleven members of the 10K rushing club never played in the Super Bowl, including Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson and LaDainian Tomlinson.
30. He is the only player in NFL history with multiple 175-yard rushing games in a single postseason. He did it in 2019 en route to the AFC Championship game.
31. Henry has the third-highest rushing average (104.6 yards per game) in NFL postseason history (min. 5 games) behind Terrell Davis (142.5) and John Riggins (110.7).
32. He gets stronger later in the year. He has the second-highest rushing average (96.0 yards per game) in December or later in NFL history (min. 30 games) behind Barry Sanders (102.8). Henry averages 75.5 rush yards per game the rest of the year.
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