How Did Derrick Henry Last Until the 2nd round

[eaglesnut]

The guy won the Heisman, looks like The Hulk and Groot had a baby, runs a 4.5, yet went 45th overall in the draft. How does this happen? I mean, the analysis of Derrick Henry's NFL upside is hardly difficult--"Big man fast. Give man rock. Man runs hard." NFL talent evaluation is fascinating.

"Former Michigan State defensive coordinator Harlan Barnett, whose team faced Henry in the 2015 college football playoffs described it this way: “You get tired of hitting that big back,” he said. “Boom. Again. Here he comes again. Boom. Again and again and again. And so you have to have the mental toughness to be able to say: ‘Hold on. We’re going to hold up, and we’re going to keep smacking him. Keep hitting him.’”

That’s if you can get your hands on him. Compounding his weightiness and his speed — 4.5 seconds in the 40-meter dash — is his ability to cutback and make defenders miss in space. And as if those traits weren’t enough to deal with, there is his long stride. At 6-foot-3, he literally eat up the yard lines like his legs are hungry for dirt.

Someone at Alabama once measured that stride. In full lope, Henry covers 7.5 feet per step. Think about that for a second: That’s two and half yards per stride. It’s 10 yards in just four steps. “If we can get him into his fourth or fifth step, we feel very confident in his ability and our ability to gain meaningful yards,” Vrabel said. And once he breaks a tackle, he’s gone. On 23 occasions this season he's burst upfield for 15 yards or longer, most in the league.

“He doesn’t get caught much,” Patriots Coach Bill Belichick observed."


Finally, there is Henry’s capacity for a daunting workload. He’s carried the ball 96 times in his past three games, a scarcely believable rate in this era of balance offense. But for him, it’s normal. Back in high school in Yulee, Florida, he regularly carried 40 or more times a game, and the trend continued at Alabama.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...14d9e8-38ba-11ea-9541-9107303481a4_story.html



NFL Draft 2016: The 44 players somehow chosen before Derrick Henry

What's more crazy is it took the Titans 4 years to actually use him.

 

[SteelersPride]

What's more crazy is it took the Titans 4 years to actually use him.

Let's not act like he didn't get work. There was a reason they brought in Murray and Lewis.

 

[BigFin]

He and Drake were in the same Bama backfield. That's nuts

I also thought Dalvin Cook was better than Henry that year.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

I like Rodgers. What's not to like?

He's a jackass

 

[Diego Roll Tide]

He and Drake were in the same Bama backfield. That's nuts

I also thought Dalvin Cook was better than Henry that year.

They were together for a limited time, as Drake did not play most of 14-15 due to major injuries. That 14 injury was a killer, as Kiffin had it going when Drake was playing out wide.

Cook was a great back, but Henry was underrated that year (yes, even given the Heisman) due to the belief he was running behind a great line. That OL was not good until the latter part of the season. Early on they were just plain bad.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

He's a jackass

So what? I don't care what he does off field. Or says. I'll take him over most any QB currently playing.

 

[NFL-Solomon]

Not to say that Henry is not on a hot streak and the Titans should ride him as much as they can, but Henry has been in the league for 4 seasons now and has less than 4,000 yards rushing. Not exactly superstar stats.

So, … you are saying they should drug test him for PEDs?

 

[kburjr]

So, … you are saying they should drug test him for PEDs?

His career is the opposite of Bell's.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

So what? I don't care what he does off field. Or says. I'll take him over most any QB currently playing.

It's his actions on the field as well. Did you miss that part?

 

[BigFin]

Cook was a great back, but Henry was underrated that year (yes, even given the Heisman) due to the belief he was running behind a great line. That OL was not good until the latter part of the season. Early on they were just plain bad.

I’d still take them over these recent FSU’s OLs anytime. They’ve been garbage since 2015.

 

[Golden Spur]

The 'trent richardson' effect likely had something to do with it. Coming from a program that always has a bunch of 5-* lineman, you don't really get the indication of how they'll perform when things are a little more even on LOS`

 

[Schmoopy1000]

Now that the Titans offense has its identity. Who thinks Henry can break 2000 yds next year. Or do you think DCs will figure out how to slow him down next year?

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

HA, Derrick WHO!? The Seahawks wisely drafted Germain Ifedi in 2016 who is one of the best right tackles in NFL history! In FACT, if you research it properly Ifedi is the b-

 

[SteelersPride]

HA, Derrick WHO!? The Seahawks wisely drafted Germain Ifedi in 2016 who is one of the best right tackles in NFL history! In FACT, if you research it properly Ifedi is the b-

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

/whoosh

 

[shopson67]

That was why they had demarco Murray and signed dion Lewis to split arrows and to be lead back? Interesting

No, that's why he emerged more this year and became more of a factor. Dion Lewis is a change of pace back, something any former Patriot head coach is going to want on his team from seeing what that does for an offense first hand. Demarco was a veteran to bring along the kid to some extent (and showed some question in whether Henry would be the answer or not).

 

[shopson67]

This if oft repeated, but a flat out myth.

Henry was not the starter until his 3rd year at Bama, and even then people look at a couple of games (AU and UF) when he had 40+ carries and assume it was the norm. It wasn’t. Hell, we felt like he was highly UNDERutilized in college.

Ditto for the Titans. He only became the featured back last year. And while he certainly is capable of bruising, he manages to avoid the brunt of a lot of shots because he uses his speed and stiff-arm.

BTW, for those talking about his lack of receptions at Bama, that was the Kiffin offense. He rarely threw to backs. The exception was using Kenyan Drake lined up
wide.

602 carries at Alabama over 3 years. 804 w/ the Titans thus far. He's 20th in the league in active career carries after only 4 seasons, only 2 of which he was the starter. He led the league this year with 303. He had 395 his final year at Alabama.

 

[Diego Roll Tide]

602 carries at Alabama over 3 years. 804 w/ the Titans thus far. He's 20th in the league in active career carries after only 4 seasons, only 2 of which he was the starter. He led the league this year with 303. He had 395 his final year at Alabama.

That means he had 207 carries in his first 2 seasons (27 games). 602 carries over a 42-game college career is under 15 carries/game. Prior to this season, he averaged just over 10 carries/game for the Titans.

Again, he’s had a couple of seasons with high carries/game and no major injuries.

 

[SteelersPride]

No, that's why he emerged more this year and became more of a factor. Dion Lewis is a change of pace back, something any former Patriot head coach is going to want on his team from seeing what that does for an offense first hand. Demarco was a veteran to bring along the kid to some extent (and showed some question in whether Henry would be the answer or not).

ou dont sign a veteran to bring along a RB. RB is the most plug and play transition from college to pros there is. Henry was a 2nd round pick, you dont draft a question mark RB in the second round. You draft him thinking hes the guy. Obviously good for him, hes corrected himself. But there were reasons he wasnt getting the rock, and others were there. You really think they drafted him high, and just thought" were dumb, were not gonna use him".

Even this year, the first 9 weeks, he was good, not great.....what happened there? they just decided to use him more week 10 on?

 

[Diego Roll Tide]

ou dont sign a veteran to bring along a RB. RB is the most plug and play transition from college to pros there is. Henry was a 2nd round pick, you dont draft a question mark RB in the second round. You draft him thinking hes the guy. Obviously good for him, hes corrected himself. But there were reasons he wasnt getting the rock, and others were there. You really think they drafted him high, and just thought" were dumb, were not gonna use him".

Even this year, the first 9 weeks, he was good, not great.....what happened there? they just decided to use him more week 10 on?

It isn’t an either/or.

A back like Henry had to adjust to the NFL, just as he had to adjust to college. He was a great back at Bama, but he had to settle for backing up Yeldon for most of 2 years. Our fans wanted him getting more carries, and he should have. But he was nowhere near the back as a freshman he became as a junior.

The Titans had to come to understand that with a back like Henry you have to COMMIT to running him. You can’t abandon it just because it fails a couple of times. BUT, Henry had to assert himself more. He was running like a freshman early on in the NFL. Sometimes you just have to get your 2 yards and go back to the huddle. Going for a home run on every play doesn’t cut it.