Derrick Henry

He won't....He sucks...Straight up. Dude was first overall taken RB and can't even return a kick. He isn't shifty, fast, and he can't break tackles well. Dude got beat out by a slow back that wasn't drafted. I am over him already. I didn't like the pick then or now.

 

I would normally agree with that, but if Henry is sitting there on the board at No.32, we need to go ahead and get our RB, now. Leonard Fournette was being talked about as the true Heisman front runner before LSU played Bama, this year. In fact LSU was ranked ahead of Bama at the time. But instead of the game being the Leonard Fournette show, it ended up being the Derrick Henry show (210 rushing yds against one of the best defenses in the SEC)...and that performance vaulted him to the top in the Heisman discussion.

Fournette will be the No.1 RB next season. Might as well not wait and take the guy who outclassed him THIS year. One weapon Henry uses well is the stiff arm. You'll see a lot of tackles broken with him using that, especially when he gets out on the edge. Not only can he outrace a defender to the edge (and get upfield), but if speed isn't enough, the defender has to get through that stiff-arm and they lose more often than they win.

Again, to my own dismay, he used that to score the late touchdown to retake the lead, against my UT Vols, this year.

 

Yeahhh... heard this when I was saying the same about Richardson.

Learn from history, kids.

Insanity.

 

I would be cool if we drafted Henry 2nd round. Speaking of Richardson I remember Jim Brown also saying he saw absolutely nothing special about him when he was drafted out of Bama.

 

I just can't get on the henry train. I really honestly don't see enough to take him in the first 2 rounds. I would take a chance on him in rd3, but no earlier. We need oline and secondary above all. I just can't get on board with him before the 3rd. Also if our rb situation is garbage again, then next year really looks like a good year for rbs. About 5 really good back will be ready to come out.

 

We can't address everything in one offseason. RB and WR probably need to wait until next year for any big additions.

I don't think we will have the restraint to pass on a RB though. Mularkey has publicly railed his RBs since he was named the interim HC. Alas, at this time next year when the rest of the league is gawking at that loaded RB class we're going to be stuck with 3 yards and a cloud of dust Henry.

 

I agree he's one of the best pass protectors (or should be) along with Elliot, but a RB's first job is to RUN!!!

Since you have 'no doubt' he'd be a BIG weapon in this offense, what kind of total yards would you expect from a big weapon RB in this offense and what kind of ypc and # of TD's would you expect/predict?

 

Heart and decision making played a bigger role. Most players come back from a major knee injury. Hard to come back from repeated bad decision making and lack of heart on the field!

 

You make some assumptions that just aren't true. First, we have no guarantee our OL is 'fixed' this year. Henry had perhaps the best run blocking in the NCAA...he won't have that here. Second, his vaunted stiff arm is less effective as NFL players are bigger AND faster than college players and tackle a heck of a lot better. Most of Henry's big runs happen with great blocking and him running thru 1 or 2 arm tackles. He'll have a lot fewer of those opportunities in the NFL unless he goes to a team with very good zone blocking. Third, you actually said "if Henry just manages to break A FEW BIG RUNS A GAME..." Sounds like you're talking about Adrian Peterson, not Derrick Henry. Just a few big runs a game when we couldn't run at all in most games?

You also have to project he won't be as durable on the next level for a few reasons. First, he's a contact runner and he's gonna take a lot more contact and take a lot more hits per run than he did in college. No matter how big you are, that wears you down fairly quickly. Additionally, he was way overused in college. He had 20+ carries in 11 of 15 games. 8 of those games were 25 or more carries. 5 of those were 32 or more carries and 2 of those were in the mid 40's!!! It is well known the more carries you tend to get in college, the faster you tend to wear out in the NFL. And unlike Elliot who has taken and will continue to take fewer hits because he makes more people miss, Elliott doesn't have 300 carries in any season. Henry had 395 THIS season and every carry over 300 is not good for future wear and tear...especially for a college player!

Plus, we'll see how truly fast Henry is at the combine.

 

Henry did not have a lot of carries at Bama. Didn't play a lot his freshman season and split time with Yeldon as a soth. Just 602 total carries in college is not a high number. Adrian Peterson had 150 more carries at Oklahoma, Ray Rice had over 300 more carries at Rutgers.

You are over analyzing the transition to the nfl. Based on your logic no RB can succeed in the nfl since the blocking will not be as good and the players are bigger and faster.