Did Derrick Henry provide dominant numbers last season in fantasy football? No, probably not, but he was still very good, and I think that's overlooked. People just assume that Derrick Henry has lost a step and he's done. He still tied for the third most top-12 performances at the running back position last year with eight, and among running backs that had 200 or more carries last season, he still finished sixth in yards after contact per attempt.
Derrick Henry hasn't lost a step; his offense lost a step, and unfortunately, it brought him down with them. But now he's in a brand new offense, one that last season with a hodgepodge of running backs still gave you some pretty darn good overall numbers. In 2023, the Baltimore Ravens' running backs (and I'm not including Lamar Jackson, so don't leave those type of comments) combined for almost 1,700 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns. That was with guys like Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins before he got hurt, Melvin Gordon, Justice Hill, and Keaton Mitchell, and none of them are close to anything that Derrick Henry is or still will be over the next couple of seasons.
So you know what? Maybe Derrick Henry won't see the type of volume in 2024 that we've seen in years past. Maybe he's not going to be a 300-carry running back once again. I don't care. The efficiency and the touchdowns are what is going to drive him this season, and just because he doesn't see the amount of carries that we're used to, the efficiency after that will be more than willing to keep him propped up into that high-end RB1 status, and he should definitely be a huge value in 2024.
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