You could make a Derrick Henry Hall of Fame caliber career highlight reel from just the plays that were called back because of penalty. His intangibles will get him a gold jacket even if he never takes another snap (#20 all time rushing yards as of posting).

1.) Team First: blocking assignments, grinding for 1st downs, effort plays, all credit to the team, places no value in individual accolades. Comparison: Barry Sanders
2.) Top 5 All Time Stiff Arms: Dickerson, Lynch, Payton, Henry, Campbell
3.) Top 10 All Time Individual Run: 99 yards (12/6/18) vs. Jaguars - 81 yards after contact, multiple stiff arms, 18 seconds of game time
4.) 2,000 Yard Season Club (2020) (2,027 yds): 1 of 8 players as of posting (Saquon Barkley likely to join - 1,838 yds w/ 2 games to go in 2024 season) - 7 of those 8 backs hit the mark in 16 game seasons (O.J. Simpson took only 14 games) and with the NFL moving to a 17 game season in 2021 all future additions will have an asterisk.

Derrick Henry is the most dominant running back of his generation and compares favorably to the most dominant back of any generation despite being firmly entrenched in an era defined by the rapid evolution of the pass and a shift to running-back-by-committee. With a maximum of 8 new inductees per year there is a significant back log for Hall of Fame eligible players and a great many deserve to be enshrined that have not yet been - it is difficult to predict 8-10 years from now which players the voters will have to choose between but you can be certain that upon receiving his gold jacket King Henry, in his speech, will credit the lineman who blocked for him, his coaches, his family, friends, and fans. It will be short - much shorter than this post - so that the next guys up have enough time to talk.

Posted by bojack norseman on 12/28/2024 @ 12:45pm