Lost in the Tennessee Titans upset of the juggernaut that was the Baltimore Ravens and the unbelievable redemption of Ryan Tannehill was Derrick Henry showing that enormous, strong and freakishly fast guys can achieve great things in the NFL.
The league is shifting towards scat backs (gross), 3rd down backs, and Boston Scott types in the backfield. Henry is showing courage not being intimidated, and displaying to the world what his 6’3 247 LB body can do if you give him the chance. He’s showing that being bigger and stronger than everyone else has a place in the league.
I think that’s a good thing because the trickle-down effect could yield fantastic results. In high schools across America, you’re going to start to see kids cut out of marble have the opportunity to destroy everyone in their path. The ones that go to college for football, who were told that they have to be DEs, can point to Derrick Henry and say I have Kali Muscles and I can run with a football. Kudos to the Titans for having the forward-thinking to put the ball in the hands of a guy that looks like this;
I’m sure it wasn’t easy for the Titans to trust that a guy that looks like Derrick Henry can be productive at running forward and through people but most doubted that Steve Rogers was the right candidate for the Captain America experiment. Life is about taking risks and I think this big risk has worked out okay for the Titans. It’s a copycat league, so expect every team to have Derrick Henry like clones in their platoons next year.
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