a two-year, $30 million extension<\/a> last week that included $25 million guaranteed. The star running back was already under contract for this coming season, but now Baltimore has him signed through 2026.<\/p>\nAdvertisement<\/p>\n
It was clear Henry didn’t want to mess with a successful situation after he ran for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2024 while producing a career-high 5.9 yards per carry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really enjoyed last season a lot,\u201d Henry said. \u201cBeing able to play alongside a player like Lamar, the best player in the league, it was just dynamic and a lot of fun. There\u2019s a lot of young guys on the offense and on this team, so I feel like they give me youth and give me a lot of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry is now 19th on the career rushing list with 11,423 yards, and another season like last year would vault him all the way into the top nine. Baltimore is certainly a place where a running back can put up big numbers and win a lot of games, as long as Jackson is healthy and playing well.<\/p>\n
The Ravens led the NFL in rushing the past two seasons and have ranked in the top three every year since Jackson’s arrival in 2018. The two-time MVP quarterback produces a lot of yards on the ground himself, but his presence also creates space for running backs such as Henry, who ran for 1,167 yards \u2014 4.2 per carry \u2014 with Tennessee in 2023 before looking rejuvenated in Baltimore.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m just very grateful for this organization,” Henry said. “Just like last year, coming off the season I had, I wasn\u2019t really happy, and I wanted to prove myself and just get an opportunity, and they gave me the opportunity. I\u2019m very appreciative of how much they value me, to give me an extension, and I just want to show them how much it means to me, how much this organization means to me by the way I work and what I do on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ravens’ effect on rushing success is evident in reverse too. Gus Edwards ran for a career-high 810 yards with 13 touchdowns for Baltimore in 2023. With the Los Angeles Chargers last season, he had a career-low 3.6 yards per carry.<\/p>\n
And while the Ravens provide an environment where running backs can flourish, they clearly don’t view everyone at the position as interchangeable \u2014 as evidenced by what they’re willing to pay Henry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he fits Baltimore as a city and what the city stands for,” running backs coach Willie Taggart said. “When you always watched the Ravens play, it was always dominating and physical, and when you watch Derrick run, it\u2019s dominating and physical. You think about our city. We\u2019re dominating and physical, so I think he just fit everything about Baltimore and the Ravens’ organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
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It didn’t take long for Henry to dispel concerns about his age last season, and Baltimore is willing to bet he can keep on doing that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at the performance he had last year \u2014 one of his better years \u2014 and that\u2019s nine years in. That\u2019s big time, but Derrick works hard. It\u2019s important to him,\u201d Taggart said. “He wants to win a Super Bowl, and I know he\u2019s going to do everything he can to help this football team accomplish that.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) \u2014 Derrick Henry arrived in Baltimore at age 30 and had one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,292,7,13469,895,262,6,169,3007,526,2850],"class_list":{"0":"post-64032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-baltimoreravens","11":"tag-derrick-henry","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-gus-edwards","14":"tag-lamar-jackson","15":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-ravens","18":"tag-running-back","19":"tag-tennessee","20":"tag-the-ravens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114538284590373492","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}