5 reasons why Derrick Henry is a perfect fit for the Ravens

The Ravens upgraded at running back in a major way with a proven playmaker that is the total package.

The new NFL league year officially began at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday which meant that the two-year deal worth up to $20 million that four-time Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry agreed terms on with the Baltimore Ravens could formally be announced by the team and become legally binding.

This means that for the second offseason in a row, Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta landed one of the most notable veteran free agents on the open market at one of the team’s most glaring positions of need. Last offseason, he signed three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to a one-year deal worth up to $18 million on Easter Sunday. While some pundits viewed it as a slight-to-gross overpay, it helped the front office appease franchise quarterback Lamar Jackson and was key in the effort that led to him signing a long-term extension.

Henry joining the Ravens is a match that countless pundits, members of the Flock, and even fans of other teams have been clamoring for ad nauseum for several years and it has finally happened. Not only did DeCosta get him for a steal of a deal with just $9 million guaranteed, but the move just makes so much sense because Henry is everything they want and have been looking for at the position for the last five years since Mark Ingram made the Pro Bowl in his first year with the team in 2019 as their lead back.

Here are five of the most important reasons why “King Henry” is a perfect fit for the Ravens.

Durability

In most sports, especially in football where the season is much shorter and there are far fewer games played, availability being the best ability is more than just a cliché, it’s a necessity. Unfortunately, for the past three seasons, the Ravens running back group as a whole has been plagued by injuries. Their top players at the position in particular have struggled mightily to consistently stay on the field as a result of season-ending injuries or lingering effects from recovering from them.

After leading the league with six yards per carry and racking up 805 rushing yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie, 2020 second-round pick J.K. Dobbins appeared to be destined for greatness until a torn ACL wiped out his 2021 season and required a cleanup procedure to remove scar tissue during the 2022 season. Last year was supposed to finally be his big breakout season but he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in Week 1 which effectively ended his tenure as a Raven given the odds of him returning now are slim to none.

Ex-Raven Gus Edwards also suffered a torn ACL prior to the 2021 season that caused him to miss the entire year and delayed his 2022 debut by six weeks. Six-year veteran Justice Hill suffered a torn Achilles that cost him all of the 2021 season, and he missed two games in 2022 before appearing in every game in 2023.

Last year, a preseason shoulder injury delayed the debut of electrifying undrafted rookie Keaton Mitchell by five games. Just when he was establishing himself as one of the most explosive weapons in the league, he suffered a torn ACL in Week 15 that will likely prolong his 2024 debut.

Henry doesn’t just look like a brick wall, he has been just as durable as one since his second season in the league. He has played full season four times and has appeared in at least 15 games every year except in 2021 when a foot injury caused him to miss nine games, but he was still able to return in time for the playoffs. Despite having over 2,000 career carries and being one of the most punishing ball carriers in the league, the 30-year-old has shown no signs of age and attrition.

Consistent high level production

While the Ravens running backs have been highly productive as a whole and helped the team field the top rushing attack in the league last season with an average of 156.5 rushing yards per game, Henry is a different beast entirely, who has been putting up monster numbers since becoming a full-time starter in 2018. During that span, his 1,744 carries, 8,268 rushing yards, and 80 rushing touchdowns are the most by any player in the league.

Henry has rushed for over 1,000 yards and scored double-digit touchdowns in five of the last six seasons. Before suffering his foot injury in 2021, he was on pace to challenge the single-season rushing record with 937 yards and 10 touchdowns in just eight regular season games.

The 2020 Offensive Player of the Year has managed to remain a dominant force and even to put up monster numbers despite facing the most loaded boxes in the league. Despite playing behind arguably the worst offensive line in the NFL last year, he was still able to finish first in the league in carries (280), second in rushing yards (1,167), and tied for the fifth-most rushing touchdowns (12).

Henry can do it all

Oftentimes when a running back switches teams, the question of whether he is a scheme fit for the new offense that he’ll be joining is raised and sometimes those questions and concerns have merit because not every ball carrier can thrive in every system.

In Henry’s case, his transition should be seamless because he has shown that he is capable of executing when running out of a myriad of schemes and formations including several that he’ll be asked to run in Baltimore. Ravens Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken incorporates power and zone concepts in his play calls and the former First-Team All-Pro has shown that he can do it all.

A big part of the Ravens’ offense that will continue to be deployed as long as Jackson is the starting quarterback is the read option run game where the quarterback reads the edge defender and decides whether to give the ball to the running back or pull it and run himself. Mastering the mesh point exchange is something that the Ravens have struggled with at times since Ingram was on the team. While running read option plays wasn’t something that Henry did a lot of last season with Ryan Tannehill and Will Levis under center, during his time playing with Malik Willis in 2022, he racked up 155 yards and scored two touchdowns on just 11 carries according to Sports Info Solutions.

Henry is the best power back of his generation who nearly racked up 1,000 yards after contact last season with 926 according to Next Gen Stats, which was the second most in the league, trailing 2023 Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffery by just 23 yards. However, his ability to outrun defenders as a home-run and big-play threat is just as impressive. He and Mitchell recorded four of the fastest top speeds in the league last year and Henry’s second top mark ironically came against the Ravens in Week 6 over in London when he reached a 20.99, matching Mitchell’s fastest mark of the season despite being over 50 pounds heavier (247-191).

“I think you always try to build the offense around the players that you have,” Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh said Thursday. “What Derrick [Henry] does really exceptionally well is going to be where we’re going to move towards, but we’re versatile. We can go in a lot of different directions. That’s what Lamar [Jackson] makes us, is versatile, and I also think what we’ve been doing along those lines fit this guy [Henry] really well.

“It’s not just his specific talents, because he can run out of any kind of backfield. He can be in the pistol [formation]. We can be under [center]. We can be in the [shot] gun. He can move around. That’s all things that [make] him a versatile player.”

Nobody has to shoulder the load in the ground game

A common plight and heavy burden that Jackson and Henry have had in common since becoming full-time starters is the responsibility of having to carry the offenses of their respective teams during their rise to stardom. Not only were they both unquestionably the best players on their units but they were the focal point of which the entire system was built around and the No. 1 threat that opposing defenses had to game plan for each week.

For at least for the next two seasons, neither of them will have to worry about being the primary threat in the ground game now that they have joined forces. According to Next Gen Stats, the Ravens are now two of the top three rushers in terms of yards over expected since 2018 with Jackson ranking first with +1,768 and Henry ranking third behind only Nick Chubb with +1,124 yards.

Henry played 53 percent or more of the Tennessee Titans’ total amount of offensive snaps in each of the past five seasons. Over that span, no Ravens running back even came close to just 50 percent of the team’s total with Edwards coming the closest last season with 42 which was a career high. Even though he will still be expected to be on the field at a high clip as their new lead back, Henry will still be a part of a healthy backfield rotation, especially when Mitchell returns from injury.

Henry personifies offensive identity

More than anything schematic, health, or production-related, Henry embodies everything the Ravens stand for and want to be on offense with the physical brand of football he plays and the hard-nosed running style he unleashes on often unwilling defenders.

Even before the John Harbaugh era and especially since Jackson became the full-time starter midway through his rookie season in 2018, the Ravens have been a run-first team and that didn’t change with Monken’s arrival last year when they were much more balanced compared to years past.

At Henry’s introductory press conference on Thursday, Harbaugh talked about how he fits the Ravens and their culture beyond the X’s and O’s as a person and leader who they believe will make an indwelling impact on their locker room and the franchise as a whole.

“I just think the person [and] the guy that loves football – that fits us really well, too,” Harbaugh said. “He’s a tough, physical guy. You play at the high school he played at. You play at the college he played at, [and] where he’s been with [the] Tennessee [Titans] and the kind of leader he’s been. Everybody you talk to talks about him in terms of a guy who just loves football, is about football and wants to compete, wants to do his best, wants to do everything he can to help the team win. That’s what it’s all about here, and I’m most excited probably about that.”