By Jeff Zrebiec and The Athletic NFL Staff
Mar 12, 2024
Roughly five months after the Baltimore Ravens nearly landed Derrick Henry in a pre-trade deadline move with the Tennessee Titans, they finally got their man, agreeing to terms with the top remaining running back available, sources close to the negotiations confirmed. It’s a two-year, $16 million deal with $9 million guaranteed and an additional $4 million available in incentives.
Henry is coming off his fourth Pro Bowl season with the Titans after rushing for 1,167 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2023. The 30-year-old topped the 1,000-yard mark for the fifth time in his eight seasons in Nashville.
Flock Nation I swea it’s up ! 💪🏾
— Derrick Henry (@KingHenry_2) March 12, 2024
Since the Titans selected Henry in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft, the former Heisman Trophy winner has totaled 9,502 yards and 90 touchdowns, including rushing for 2,027 yards in 2020.
Henry was 38th in The Athletic’s ranking of the top 150 free agents.He is the first outside free agent to agree to terms with the Ravens since the negotiation window opened on Monday. Running back was one of the team’s biggest needs with Gus Edwards, who agreed to terms with the Los Angeles Chargers, J.K. Dobbins and Dalvin Cook all hitting the free-agent market this week.
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Before the Henry agreement, the only three running backs under contract with Baltimore were Justice Hill, Keaton Mitchell and Owen Wright. Both Mitchell and Wright were 2023 undrafted free agents, and Mitchell sustained a significant knee injury in December.
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How he fits
The Ravens have been the best running team in football since the dynamic Lamar Jackson took over at quarterback at the midpoint of the 2018 season. In Jackson’s five full seasons as the starter, the Ravens have led the league in rushing three times and finished second and third in the other two. Yet, they’ve relied largely on Jackson and an unheralded group of running backs. Mark Ingram (2019) is the only Ravens 1,000-yard running back in Jackson’s five seasons as a starter.
Henry gives the Ravens a dynamic three-down back that they’ve lacked for much of Jackson’s career in Baltimore. Under John Harbaugh, the Ravens love featuring a power running game that controls the clock and wears teams down. They now have arguably the NFL’s most physical running back and teams will be forced to honor him and Jackson as a running threat.
GO DEEPERRavens free-agency tracker: A look at Baltimore's signings, trades and cuts2024 impact
It wasn’t exactly a secret that the Ravens would be players in both the free-agent and draft running back markets. Their depth chart demanded it, and general manager Eric DeCosta made it clear at the recent NFL Scouting Combine that the team would add running backs this offseason. Edwards’ departure made it more imperative that the Ravens acted quickly to secure a starting back. Henry will obviously be the guy, just like he’s been throughout his career in Tennessee. However, the cupboard is not bare. Hill, who brings speed and elusiveness, is coming off his best NFL season as he finished with 593 all-purpose yards, averaged 4.6 yards a carry and finished with four total touchdowns. Mitchell was looking like a major difference-maker before he tore up his knee in a December game in Jacksonville. DeCosta said recently that he expects the speedster to return in 2024.
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History
What makes this so interesting — beyond the obvious, which is the pairing of the NFL leader in rushing yards since 2018 and the quarterback with the most rushing yards in that span — is that the Ravens and Titans have had a heated rivalry in recent years. Henry was largely responsible for helping the Titans deliver the Ravens one of their worst losses in franchise history. The Ravens were the top seed in the 2019 playoffs when Henry came to M&T Bank Stadium, rushed for 195 yards and also threw a touchdown pass in a stunning 28-12 Tennessee win. The Ravens avenged that loss by beating the Titans and shutting down Henry in the playoffs the following year on Tennessee’s home field. It was always such an intriguing matchup because the Ravens pride themselves on playing smashmouth defensive football and Henry played the same relentless, physical style on the offensive end.
Cap update
The full breakdown of Henry’s contract has yet to come in. However, the Ravens, after signing Justin Madubuike to a four-year, $98 million extension last week, were going to have to make moves regardless to be cap compliant. Expect the Ravens to make a handful of cuts, restructures or pay reductions before 4 p.m. ET Wednesday. They don’t have much cap flexibility heading into the new league year.
GO DEEPERJustin Madubuike's bet on himself pays off as Ravens lock him up to 4-year extensionOutlook
Given their cap situation and the quality of their free-agent class, the Ravens knew they were going to lose a lot of key guys this offseason. In the first 24 hours of the negotiation window, they lost six players. Their only move was re-signing part-time starting linebacker and core special-teamer Malik Harrison. Henry stops the bleeding in a lot of ways. The Ravens can cross off running back from their list of needs. Baltimore now knows that it’ll have a feared running attack in 2024. Now, DeCosta, with little cap space at his disposal, has to figure out a way to fill the team’s myriad other needs, starting with solidifying the offensive line and adding an edge rusher.
Rumors of Henry’s decline have been greatly exaggerated
There’s no question Henry has not had the same home-run ability since suffering a foot fracture midway through the 2021 season. At that point, he was on his way to a second straight 2,000-yard season and a firm reservation in Canton. But he’ll likely end up there anyway, in part because that’s really the only aspect of his game that has faded.
He averaged just 4.2 yards per carry last season and 4.4 the season before, but he was playing behind the worst two offensive lines of his career — the 2023 version had a case as the worst in the NFL — and with an anemic passing game in support. The Titans traded away A.J. Brown, made terrible choices up front and ran Henry into loaded boxes because they had no other answers. With Jackson, in that scheme and after what I’m betting will be the best offseason yet for a guy who sets the standard for offseasons? This is going to be really good for the Ravens. — Joe Rexrode, Nashville columnist
GO DEEPERRexrode: Titans' Derrick Henry strategy makes sense, but still, this one hurtsMueller’s scouting report
If ever there was a fit destined to come to fruition, it was King Henry and the Ravens. Henry brings with him a culture, an identity and a style that should stop the revolving door in the Baltimore backfield. He runs angry, which fits the Ravens’ persona. He’ll also pair very nicely with Mitchell. Henry will help the Ravens close out games, and they played with a lead more than any other team in the league in 2023. He had 63 first-down rushes and zero fumbles in 2023, cementing the feeling that there’s still tread left on his tire, even at age 30. His fifth gear might not be what it used to be, but gears 1-4 are still really good. Taking a slight pay cut over his previous salary in Tennessee, he signed for a second-tier deal, so that part makes sense as well. — Randy Mueller, NFL staff writer
Required reading
- NFL free agency rankings 2024: Top 10 players at each position
- NFL beat writer mock draft 2024: Trades shake up top 10 picks and QB landscape
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(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)
