MARCH 12: Sources tell Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports that Tennessee is not, in fact, shopping Henry. Despite a number of recent (and expected) cuts, the Titans should again be able to compete for a playoff spot in a suspect AFC South, and dealing the focal point of their offense would obviously undermine those efforts (though new GM Ran Carthon indicated he is open to spreading some of Henry’s workload around to other players, as Terry McCormick of The Portland Sun writes).

MARCH 6: Although the free agency period has not officially begun, teams often engage in light conversations with other teams at the NFL scouting combine, gauging interest and market value in certain assets. Team officials will also start shopping players that they might be willing to trade, as was the case this past week with the Titans shopping star running back Derrick Henry, according to Michael Silver of Bally Sports.

Silver claims his sources were all current NFL general managers who report that Tennessee was attempting to deal their bell cow back. Henry is currently headed into a contract year, in which he will hold a $16.37MM cap hit. The veteran running back has already far exceeded the average career of most NFL running backs, an exceedingly impressive feat considering the physical nature of Henry’s playing style. There’s nothing to suggest that Henry doesn’t still have plenty of gas left in the tank.

That’s not for lack of trying on the Titans’ part. In three of the last four years, Henry has led the NFL in rush attempts. In that fourth year, Henry had 219 carries in eight games before suffering a season-ending injury. In a 17-game season last year, Henry was on pace for 465 carries, which would’ve been an NFL record. This excessive usage has resulted in some very strong seasons for Henry. He led the NFL in rushing yards in 2019 and 2020, breaking the 2,000-yard rushing mark in the latter season. In the 2021 injury-shortened season, Henry was on pace to be approach 2,000 yards rushing for the second straight year. He’s also recorded double-digit touchdowns every season since his second year in the league, including the eight-game 2021 season.

Which teams might be interested in acquiring the bruising runner? There certainly are some strong options for Henry. He may find himself joining Sean Payton‘s first team in Denver. The Broncos have plenty of names under contract next year with Javonte Williams, Chase Edmonds, Damarea Crockett, and Tyler Badie. Williams is expected to be the starter, but after a strong rookie season, injuries held Williams back in Year 2. The Dolphins are another team that could utilize Henry. They currently don’t have any running backs under contract as Salvon Ahmed, Myles Gaskin, Raheem Mostert, and Jeff Wilson are all headed towards free agency. Lastly, the Saints could certainly find themselves in need of a lead running back, depending on what happens with Alvin Kamara.

Even at 29 years old, Henry would be a huge addition to any of these franchises. For one whose past career would indicate a player with not much tread left on the tires, Henry shows no signs of slowing down. The Titans may not be willing to shell out for Henry’s final year, but odds are that some team will.

Derrick Henry will collect a bit more money than expected this season. The Titans authorized a $2MM raise for the two-time rushing champion, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Tennessee is taking $2MM off Henry’s 2023 salary, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (on Twitter), bumping his 2022 wages from $12MM to $14MM. Thursday’s agreement does not change Henry’s contractual timeline, however. Henry remains signed through the 2023 season, but this deal bumps him to the top of the running backs list for 2022 cash, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler adds (via Twitter).

This raise is contingent on Henry’s availability, but it also will provide cash to the All-Pro sooner in the form of a $9MM signing bonus, Florio adds. This popular genre of restructure will create cap space for the Titans, who have dropped Henry’s 2022 base salary from $12MM to $4MM. The other $1MM in the $2MM bump will be available through gameday roster bonuses, which will only pay out if Henry is active for Tennessee contests. Henry missed nine of those last season.

This does set up the possibility of 2022 being Henry’s final year on his current deal. Should the bulldozing back re-emerge from his injury-abbreviated 2021 season with another strong year, the Titans may end up rewarding him again. This restructure also stands to make it more difficult for the Titans to move on from Henry in 2023. Prior to Thursday’s reworking, the Titans would have only incurred $3MM in dead money by releasing Henry. A higher charge would come from such a transaction now. Henry’s 2023 cap hit also will rise from its previous $15.5MM place.

The prospect of a new Henry deal emerged earlier this offseason. His current pact (four years, $50MM; agreed to at the 2020 franchise tag deadline) is not exactly out of step with the slow-moving (at the top, at least) running back market, but Florio adds the thinking behind this move is a third Henry contract could come to pass before next season. Henry’s deal is in line with the contracts given to Nick Chubb Dalvin Cook, Aaron Jones and Joe Mixon — each of whom being attached to a contract between $12-$12.6MM per year — though it does sit behind Christian McCaffrey ($16MM), Ezekiel Elliott and Alvin Kamara ($15MM).

A discussion on releasing Henry next year is obviously premature, but running back declines happen earlier than they do at just about every other position. The Jones fracture the former Heisman winner suffered derailed a monster 2021 season — one in which he still finished in the top 10 in rushing yards despite the two-month absence — and does invite questions about his future form. Henry will turn 29 before season’s end.

That said, Tennessee should need Henry more in 2022 than it did last season. After letting backup D’Onta Foreman walk in free agency, the Titans traded A.J. Brown to the Eagles. The player the team brought in to replace the Pro Bowl wideout, first-round pick Treylon Burks, has also not shown readiness to be a locked-in early-season starter. With trade acquisition Robert Woods also coming off an ACL tear, the Titans will need their cornerstone skill player to bounce back.

Tennessee also lost two of its 2021 starting O-line, cutting guard Rodger Saffold and letting right tackle David Quessenberry leave as a UFA for Buffalo, potentially raising the degree of difficulty for Henry’s seventh season. Prior to Henry’s foot fracture, however, he had missed just two games through 5 1/2 seasons. The Titans will hope the previous career trend, despite the steep mileage put on Henry’s odometer from 2019-21, is more indicative of Henry’s path than his 2021 season is.

We heard last month that the Titans were interested in extending Derrick Henry. Well, it sounds like the star running back is open to an extension, as well. Speaking to Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky, Henry said he’d be interested in signing another deal with Tennessee.

[RELATED: Titans Considering Derrick Henry Extension?]

“It’s always good to get a promotion at your job,” Henry said. “A promotion is always good. I’m trying to work through that but I’m currently still under contract. If that’s what the future holds, then yeah, that’d be great.”

Back in 2020, Henry inked a four-year, $50MM deal that would keep him on the Titans through the 2023 campaign. In terms of average annual value, the deal ranks fifth at the position (behind Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara, Ezekiel Elliott, and Dalvin Cook). While he’s coming off a significant injury, Henry has otherwise been healthy throughout his NFL career, so an extension could help him climb that AAV leaderboard. At the very least, a new extension could garner Henry some addition guarantees while carving out some extra space for the Titans.

Henry was prolific in both the 2019 and 2020 seasons, and he carried that production over to 2021. Through the first eight games, the RB compiled 1,091 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns. While his yards per carry was way down (5.4 in 2020 to 4.3 in 2021), he was on track to have a career year in the receiving game. A foot injury knocked him out for the final nine games of the regular season, and while he managed to return for the Titans playoff loss, most of his offseason focus has been on his health.

“I’m doing a lot of footwork, making sure that I am finding my toes, he always tells me that when I am working out, just so I am balancing my foot,” Henry told Kuharsky. “I feel good, I am running hills, doing restricted running, all those types of things to make sure I am ready.” 

Derrick Henry is coming off his first significant injury as a pro, having missed nine regular-season games before returning for the Titans’ divisional-round tilt. But the two-time rushing champion had amassed a staggering lead on the rest of the NFL at the time he suffered the foot ailment; he still finished ninth in rushing last season.

The Titans have Henry signed through 2023, by virtue of the four-year, $50MM extension the parties agreed to just before the 2020 franchise tag deadline. But the team is open to doing another deal with its star running back, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes.

Although third running back contracts for notable sums are exceedingly rare in the modern NFL, another Henry-Titans pact would help the team create near-future cap space. Henry would also collect some guaranteed money; the guarantees on his current deal ended after last season. A new deal, however, could tag Tennessee with dead money down the road. As is, Henry is attached to $15MM cap numbers in 2022 and ’23. The Titans are near the bottom of the NFL in cap space, holding barely $3MM.

Since paying Henry two summers ago, the Titans have opted not to extend Corey Davis, Jonnu Smith and A.J. Brown. Henry and Robert Woods‘ nonguaranteed contracts represent the only noteworthy veteran salaries among Titan skill-position players presently. Tennessee’s post-Brown plan will place pressure on first-round pick Treylon Burks, who will essentially replace the traded wide receiver, and for Henry to keep delivering top-shelf backfield work.

Henry is entering his age-28 season. He compiled workhorse carry totals for the past two-plus seasons, but his first three years — when he spent much of that time alongside DeMarco Murray — kept those numbers down. Henry’s per-carry average did drop to 4.3 last season, down from north of five yards per tote in 2019 and ’20, and he is sitting on 1,401 career carries (second-most among projected starting backs, behind only Ezekiel Elliott‘s 1,650). It will be interesting to see what kind of effect Henry’s recent handoff counts (303 in 2019, 378 in 2020 and 219 in an abbreviated ’21) have on his 2022 form.