A rumored fit for several months, the Ravens-Derrick Henry partnership is coming to fruition. The two-time rushing champion is committing to Baltimore, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. 
The Ravens will give Henry a two-year, $16MM deal, per Schefter, who adds the longtime Titans starter can earn up to $20MM with the AFC North team. The Ravens are guaranteeing Henry $9MM, making this look more like a pay-as-you-go pact. But the 30-year-old back has an interesting opportunity ahead, joining the team that soared to the AFC’s top seed last season.
Hovering as a potential Hall of Famer, Henry has been one of this era’s premier backs. He is coming off a fifth 1,000-yard season. While mileage should be a concern for the Ravens, the former Heisman winner has shrugged off workload-based fears in the past. After losing Gus Edwards to the Chargers, the Ravens will make a bigger payment to see how Henry looks alongside Lamar Jackson.
Closely linked to Henry at last year’s deadline, the Ravens stood pat and continued with their in-house setup. The team lost Keaton Mitchell to a late-season ACL tear, which came three months after J.K. Dobbins was lost for the season in Week 1. Dobbins is unsigned, and Mitchell is rehabbing. At long last, Henry will be part of the Ravens’ equation.
2023 saw the Alabama product earn a fourth career Pro Bowl, although his workload experienced a notable decline. Splitting time with third-round rookie Tyjae Spears, Henry averaged 16.5 carries per games last season. That marked the first time since 2018 that he logged less than 20 totes per contest, a sign that he may not be able to handle the same workload moving forward as he did in his prime. Still, Henry will be positioned to operate on plenty of early downs as well as goal-line situations if the Ravens make no further RB moves.
General manager Eric DeCosta made it clear at the Combine that backfield additions would be a priority for Baltimore, the league’s top rushing team from last season. New deals for Edwards and/or Dobbins were on the table, but that will not be the case for at least the former. The latter’s chances of remaining in Baltimore for 2024 have also taken a hit given today’s move. Midseason pickup Dalvin Cook is a pending free agent, and he could be enticed to look elsewhere after being used sparingly in his brief Ravens tenure.
The Ravens were linked to other backs prior to this unsurprising Henry agreement, including reported serious interest in Saquon Barkley. The Eagles ultimately agreed to a longer, more lucrative pact than this Henry one, though, and finances were no doubt a concern for a Ravens team which entered Tuesday marginally over the cap. Still, more cost-effective options were available for Baltimore, so the team’s investment marks a notable commitment to the top of its backfield depth chart.
Adam La Rose contributed to this post.
Him and Mitchell going to be a dynamic 1-2
Montgomery and Gibbs already have that name.
And don’t forget Lamar. You could put 9 in the box and still not stop the run
And somehow they will throw 45 times next year in the playoffs.
and lose ugly
I’ve been in fire!! I’ve predicted at least 20 signings betweeen yesterday and today lol
No proof & no one cares
Go to old comments as proof. And you cared enough to comment
Thanks for letting us know. We’ve all been really worried about you being IN fire…hope you’re ok.
Too bad they don’t have a FA contest like over on MLBTR.
Bunch of sissies in the comments lmao
If sites would require an ID number to prove your an adult before commenting, we could be spared drivel posted by sad children, like this sentinel clown.
Another triggered snowflake lmao
and I won the lottery.
Me too. Twinsies
It makes sense since Gus the Bus signed elsewhere. It’s like a roto draft with all the RBs changing places.
AFC north is going to be ridiculous
Says someone unaware that the entire AFC North finished over .500 last term.
Steelers are going to need to beef up their ILB’s now
Welcome to AFC North football
Need to Russell Wilson to call his old friend Bobby Wagner immediately. The guy led the league in tackles last season. Would be a great fit
They already did need to beef them up every year since Shazier got hurt. Now they REALLY need to beef them up.
Fun!
And to think, the AFC North was thought to be smash mouth football before this move.
Need Reader back forsure
I guess the ravens do have cap room
This is just…it’s just….. my God I don’t even know what it is!
This is scary. Josh Jacobs to cowboys now.
Jacobs has agreed to a deal with Green Bay already.
I seen this. What is the cowboys gonna do. Lol
Every year, the Ravens, do everything under the sun. by grabbing all these free agents. But they’re always on the outside looking in. Come playoff time same old situation.
Didn’t they host the AFC Championship last year??????? Or was I hallucinating????? As a Browns fan, I hate to admit it, but time after time, in free agency and in the draft, the Ravens consistently do smart things and make smart moves. Not sure what you’re talking about.
Hot take generation. They would have run John Madden out of Oakland and would have called the 90s Bills failures.
The runner up to the AFC champ with the generational QB is the outside looking in? What’s Buffalo and Miami then?
Generational QB? He can barely throw the ball. He’s a glorified running back, and that’s how the league views him.
Lamar is actually a pretty decent QB. If he actually had some healthy running backs instead of 3rd 4th string guys he’d probably have to run a lot less.
But he’s actually capable of playing QB
Finished
2023 4th in QBR
2022 9th in QBR
2021 17th in QBR
2020 9th in QBR
Glorified running backs don’t finish top 10 in QBR
“Every year they grab all these free agents”
So what you’re saying is you don’t pay attention to them. Last season it was OBJ for a season, Agholor and then later added Van Noy,
Clowney and Darby when injuries occurred.
Signing five FAs are just like signing everyone I suppose.
As a Steeler fan, I’m about to say something that I hate to say: great move, Baltimore.
Why did the Titans fire him?
The Ravens could take DNA from Jim Brown, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders and create a super-back in a lab and still finish short of a championship.
They do not have a quarterback who can make big throws at big moments in big games. Until Lamar Jackson does it, there’s zero reason to believe he can do it.