(Photo : Andy Lyons/Getty Images) NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – Derrick Henry (#22) of the Tennessee Titans towards the Seattle Seahawks at Nissan Stadium on December 24, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Running backs staged a revolt final season to focus on what they thought was the National Football Leagues’ neglect of gamers of their place when it comes to pay.
Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry was amongst those that have been vocal about truthful compensation for league working backs.
He even began a bunch chat among the many league’s high RBs, demanding elevated pay given their heavy use within the league. Henry believes working backs contact the ball as a lot as quarterbacks, the place that will get probably the most compensation.
“At this point, just take the RB position out the game then,” he stated again in the summertime of the 2023 season in response to a tweet about how RBs are caught in a cycle.
“The ones that want to be great & work as hard as they can to give their all to an organization, just seems like it don’t even matter. I’m with every RB that’s fighting to get what they deserve.”
Fast ahead to 2024; it is the identical anthem for Henry and plenty of RBs.
Read extra: Where Will Cowboys RB Tony Pollard Land in NFL Free Agency?
He, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Austin Ekeler, and Tony Pollard are able to impose what they deserve this summer season and in the course of the free company interval.
“It’s tough right now,” Henry stated in the course of the coaching camp. “Just want to do anything possible to help show our value, do it on the field but definitely try to be together as a movement to improve the situation.”
What are Derrick Henry’s contract calls for?
Henry performed out the final yr of his earlier four-year, $50 million contract he signed in 2020.
He believes he nonetheless has what it takes to play on the high stage regardless of being 30 years previous already.
“I want to bring a Super Bowl here really bad,” Henry stated final season.
“I’m in Year 8 now, so the Super Bowl is definitely my next goal. I’m not getting younger. I want a ring, so, wherever that comes and whoever can help get close to that, that’s what we’re going to do.”
According to Spotrac, his market worth is $10 million yearly after evaluating his statistical manufacturing and age to that of different working backs.
His camp expects to get round $10 million, which is $2 million decrease than his 2023 wage.
Projected Derrick Henry contract
While Henry has the proper to demand a wage that can proceed to make him among the many highest-paid RBs within the league this 2024, The Athletic author and senior NFL insider Dianna Russini predicts he wouldn’t get that.
This is as a result of he has dropped to the second tier of the perfect NFL free-agent working backs, primarily because of his age.
Las Vegas Raiders’ Josh Jacobs and New York Giants’ Barkley are within the high tier.
Again, this tier system falls on the present system, the place RBs turn into immediately dispensable.
There is a customized the place groups refuse to pay RBs past their rookie yr offers.
ESPN’s Matt Miller completely painted what it’s wish to be a working again within the NFL.
Been saying it for years:
1. Draft a RB
2. Play the RB…if he is good…
3. Franchise tag the RB ONE TIME
…after which…
1. Draft a RB…
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) July 17, 2023
There’s no assurance that the league’s RBs will get what they need proper now. The NFL is popping right into a pass-first sport, and groups will proceed to embrace that within the years to return.
Henry, the Titans’ file holder for many touchdowns scored (81) and speeding TDs (78), will stay a fascinating participant. He may even discover himself on a staff able to contend, which is what he needs probably the most proper now.
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