Tennessee Titans: Derrick Henry ranked sixth best running back in NFL

USA Today’s Touchdown Wire ranked the 11 best running backs in the NFL and ranked Derrick Henry at No. 6.

Derrick Henry is going on four years now in the NFL and has proven he could be the next big thing. After Alabama running backs have flopped in the NFL time after time, Henry has shown he’s different and has what it takes to be successful at the highest level.

After getting just four starts in his first two seasons, Henry started a career-high 12 games last season and cemented himself as a dominant running back in the NFL.

After a pretty successful 2017, Henry was given the starting job to begin 2018. After starting the first nine games, Henry only amassing 358 yards and lost the starting job to Dion Lewis until Week 14.

A week before that, the Titans took on the Jaguars in Nashville and Henry ran all over the Jags defense. He totaled 238 yards and four touchdowns on 17 carries. The standout performance landed him the starting job for the rest of the season and continued to dominate.

The last three weeks of the season Henry combined for 347 yards which is almost as much as the first nine games he started to begin the season. Henry is bound to continue that dominance in 2019, and Touchdown Wire has faith he can keep it up too.

Doug Farrer was the one who ranked the running backs and had high praise for Henry. High praise has been a common theme this offseason. From praising the receiving corps, Mariota’s improvements and the team all-around good things are happening in Nashville.

Farrar gave his specifics, and a lot had to do with the size of Henry and the difficulty of bringing him down due to his power. I tend to agree with what he says as Henry stands at 6-3, 247 pounds, and that’s nothing to scoff at.

"“Arm-tackling Henry in the open field is an invitation to embarrassment–he’s far too powerful on the move to be dissuaded by that,” Farrar wrote. “For his size, he’s proven able to confuse defenders with quick jump cuts and some downfield acceleration, but Henry’s game is mostly about power with a speed element, and 2018 was the season in which that all came together.”"

The Titans haven’t been necessarily rebuilding, but they have been trying to incorporate some new, younger talent into the rotation. With Henry, they have succeeded at the running back position.

Corey Davis is soon to show he’s going to be successful at receiver too, and Mariota is just a few plays away from getting hot and being the quarterback Titans fans have hoped he would be since day one.

Davis has shown some much potential he’s drawing comparisions to Terrell Owens which some may say is crazy but not too far fetched if you ask me.

This Titans team have found their big three in Mariota, Henry and Davis. If they can all start clicking at the same time the Titans could be ready to have a big season in 2019.