How Derrick Henry, now 30, with Tennessee Titans deal expiring, is punching to next phase

Another 1,000-yard season. Another Pro Bowl nod. Another year in the life of Derrick Henry.

Well . . . not exactly.

“I’m not too proud of it this year,” Henry said Thursday of the Pro Bowl nod on his 30th birthday, one day after being voted in for the fourth time in five seasons. ” . . . Sometimes you need a year like this to be able to grow, to be able to learn, to be able to reflect.

“I definitely want to do that once the season’s over. If I wasn’t fueled before, I’m definitely more fueled now, definitely more motivated, definitely more hungry and going into this offseason attacking it as hard as I can.”

Henry and the Tennessee Titans (5-11) finish their season against Henry’s hometown Jacksonville Jaguars (9-7) at Nissan Stadium on Sunday (noon, CBS). It will be his last guaranteed game in a Titans uniform, as the star running back becomes a free agent in March.

Now at the dreaded age for running backs and trying to put a bow on one of his least effective and most frustrating seasons as a pro, Henry has to add “ponder my future” to his fueled, motivated, hungry, attacking plans for the offseason.

“Any player would love to play for an organization and finish out their career as long as they can,” he said. “But there’s a business side and all those type of things that go on. I understand that. We’ll just see how it shakes out in the offseason.”

Derrick Henry at 30 years old

Age matters more at running back than any other position. In the past five seasons, there are only 16 players who’ve started even one game at running back after turning 30. By comparison, there have been 38 quarterbacks, 45 tight ends, 55 receivers and 146 offensive linemen who continued to start into their 30s.

Henry knows the stigma. He said he sought advice on the topic from Barry Sanders at the Super Bowl last year. He said he has looked to the examples of LaDainian Tomlinson and Fred Taylor, two of his childhood heroes, about how to age well in the league. He says that sometimes when he needs motivation, he goes online and looks up how various backs played in their 30s.

But Sanders famously retired after his age-30 season. Tomlinson never rushed for 1,000 yards again after his age-29 season. Since 2000, more players have rushed for 1,000 yards at age 29 than all players in their 30s combined. Only eight of the 21 running backs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who played after 1970 had a 1,000-yard season in their 30s.

Even the best of the best struggle to do what Henry’s trying to do.

“He’s turning 30. At that position, that’s considered really old in the NFL,” Titans running backs coach Justin Outten told The Tennessean. “It’s just pushing past that age. Age is just a number at that point. The older you get, the more technical and the more detailed you have to be. That way you can still play at a high level. He’s done that throughout the season. He’s going to continue to do that.”

Derrick Henry at the end of an era

Henry also is trying to forge his second act in an era when fewer players are afforded a chance to have a first act, at least in the way Henry did. He is the only player who has debuted since 2010 with five 1,000-yard rushing seasons. There are only two other players within 500 rushing attempts of Henry’s total since he entered the league. He is one of just four players in the past decade to touch the ball 350 or more times in multiple seasons; in the decade before, there were 14 such players.

And then there’s the matter of how much players like Henry can be counted on to lead teams where they want to go. Only three of the past 15 Super Bowl champions featured a 1,000-yard rusher on their roster. The most recent team to win a Super Bowl behind a player who finished in the top three in the NFL in rushing yards was the 2004 New England Patriots.

That running back was Corey Dillon, and for whatever it’s worth, he was 30 years old. So was LeGarrette Blount, the last 1,000-yard rusher to win a Super Bowl, when he was with the Patriots in 2017.

Outliers exist. Henry wants to be one.

Derrick Henry’s legacy at the end

No one stat can encapsulate Henry’s greatness. This one might come close, though.

Pro Football Focus has data on yards gained after contact dating to 2006. Henry owns three of the six best seasons by yards after contact, including the two best, in that span. Henry and Adrian Peterson are the only players with multiple seasons exceeding 1,200 yards after contact.

Henry has multiple seasons where he exceeded 1,500 yards after contact.

Even this year, with a career-low 3.9 yards per carry and having more than 100 yards a game just three times, he’s second in the NFL in yards after contact. He gets hit. He keeps going.

No one has been more of an engine for any team the past eight years than Henry has been for the Titans. And this weekend could be the last chance for Titans fans to show their appreciation.

“It’s the last game of the season. I’m a free agent after this year. I’ve been here eight years,” he said. “I’ll just be grateful to whoever shows up. I know the fans will come out and hopefully we put on a show and are able to finish strong.”

Henry said he isn’t asked about free agency often. He doesn’t go out in public much. He keeps a close circle. It can’t be a surprise that the guy with the impulse control to avoid eating gluten, dairy, artificial sugar and fried food can also keep his mind on the task at hand.

He says he wants to treat Sunday’s game like any other game. And what comes after that, what Henry does in his 30s and whose uniform he wears while doing it, all of that comes later.

“We’ll see,” Henry said with a wry smile when asked about beating the reputation 30-year-old running backs carry. “We’ll see.”

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.