Opinion: Put Derrick Henry in MVP conversation because 'the numbers are astronomical'
Let Jerome Bettis take the floor and make an MVP case for the NFL’s best running back.
Derrick Henry, the Tennessee Titans’ sledgehammer of a weapon, is following up on his 2,000-yard season with so much more of the same.
"For me as a running back, I love not only his dominance at the point-of-attack, but it’s his ability, too, to run away from guys and go 80 or 90 yards," Bettis, the Hall of Famer, told Paste BN Sports this week. "That’s insane. And he’s so consistent. The numbers are astronomical."
Henry heads back to Indianapolis – where on his last two trips he ripped up the Colts with 178- and 149-yard rushing games – as the NFL’s runaway train of a rushing leader. With 869 yards on a league-high 191 carries, he’s on pace to strike 2,000 yards again. And with just four yards on Sunday, he’ll eclipse the eight-game tally (872 yards) that Barry Sanders had in 1998 as the best follow-up to a 2,000-yard campaign.
Numbers. Henry’s league-best 22 explosive runs of 20-plus yards are nearly four times more than the next-highest producer in that category (Arizona’s James Conner had 6-such runs, heading into Thursday night’s loss to the Packers). His NFL-high 699 yards after contact are 258 more than the next runner in that category (Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor).
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As Tennessee (5-2) approaches midseason with a three-game winning streak, Henry has had five 100-yard rushing games and is carrying a streak of six consecutive games with 100 yards from scrimmage.
Those are surely MVP credentials. Yet it has been nearly a decade since a running back – or any non-quarterback – has claimed league MVP honors. Adrian Peterson was the NFL’s MVP for the 2012 season and before that, you’d have to go back to LaDainian Tomlinson (2006) and Shaun Alexander (2005) for the non-quarterback MVP aberrations.
Maybe this will be the season to break the pattern, although marquee quarterbacks Tom Brady, Dak Prescott, Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray and yes, reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers, are undoubtedly candidates.
"You take Kyler off the Cardinals or Dak off the Cowboys and they have no chance of winning," Bettis said. "That shows you how valuable they are. But it’s the same for Derrick. Where are the Titans without him?"
Last weekend, Henry had his streak of 100-yard rushing games snapped at five but still left a significant imprint on the smashing of the Chiefs that marked a sweep within six days of the two teams that met in the last AFC title game. Henry stopped in mid-stride during what appeared to be a goal-line run, only to softly flip a 5-yard TD pass to MyCole Pruitt to open the scoring against the Chiefs.
Count the throw as another way to burn a defense. "Definitely cool," said Henry, who rushed for 86 yards and caught 2 passes for 16 yards against Kansas City.
Against Buffalo, it was the traditional hammer: 143 yards on 20 carries, with 3 TDs, including a 76-yard scoring jaunt.
Bettis, who made his mark as a bruiser who often ran over defenders, can’t (or won’t) contain his excitement in breaking down Henry’s game.
"He’s an old-school running back playing in a new-era game," Bettis said.
Of course, Bettis, who ranks eighth on the NFL’s all-time rushing list with 13,662 yards, was never the one with the speed to repeatedly rip off long-distance TD runs as Henry does. Yet he clearly realizes how Henry, at 247 pounds, gains an advantage with his combination of size and speed against the backdrop of today’s game.
Never mind that defenses typically stack eight defenders in the box. Henry’s calling card is marked with his tendency to wear down defenses as games progress, and it frequently includes the image of him shoving off defenders to break tackles.
"In my era, the linebackers were 235 to 260 pounds, and LeVon (Kirkland) was like 280," Bettis said. "All the linebackers now are smaller and faster to support the new game with all of the passing. You don’t have strong safeties like (Hall of Famer) Steve Atwater living in the box.
"Now, he can run roughshod over defenses. They are not equipped to handle him. They’ll use eight men in the box. But that eighth guy is 195 pounds. What is he doing?"
Henry, who put up the season’s biggest rushing game with 182 yards and 3 TDs at Seattle in Week 2, has rushed for 5,495 yards and 55 TDs since the start of the 2018 season. The Titans are 22-3 when he runs for 100 or more yards…and 30-30 when he doesn’t.
And just think: Henry, who won the Heisman Trophy at Alabama before Tennessee drafted him in the second round in 2016, didn’t have his breakout until his third NFL season.
"You look at his trajectory," Bettis said. "He was the best running back in the country in high school. The best running back in college. So, you thought he’d be the best in the NFL. But when he first came into the league, he was being two-platooned."
Henry backed up DeMarco Murray during his first two seasons, then went into the 2018 campaign splitting backfield duties with Dion Lewis.
"Once they started giving him the 20 carries, it totally changed everybody’s perception," Bettis said.
And look at him now. If he keeps up his roll, Henry might be just the one to break up the quarterback monopoly on MVP honors.