After years of jerking us around, Derrick Henry aka Von Miller-as-a-running back is finally getting the usage that he (and all of us) deserve. After years of backing up Demarco Murray, platooning with Dion Lewis, and otherwise being screwed the fuck over, Henry seems to be the workhorse he was always meant to be. It’s about time.
Henry was in on 36 snaps for the Titans (59%) compared to 26 snaps for Dion Lewis (43%) which at face value doesn’t seem like a huge discrepancy. But looking just a little closer reveals why you can trust Henry as your guy. Henry, on his 36 snaps, rushed 19 times and was targeted twice. That means that well over half the time he was in the game, the Titans either gave the ball to — or intended to give the ball to — Henry. In Lewis’ 26 snaps, he rushed 3 times and caught 3 balls, producing almost nothing in the process. In short, when Henry was in the game they were running offense around him almost 60% of the time. When Lewis was in the game, he was used less than 25% of the time. Case closed.
Oh… and by the way, Henry rushed for 84 yards on his carries and he took his 1 reception to the house from 75 yards out. He was the RB3 in Week 1, trailing only Austin Ekeler and Christian McCaffrey. Build your fantasy team around him with confidence. It may have taken us 4 years to get the Derrick Henry we deserve, but he may be here to stay now.
