The Opening Drive, 8/3: King Henry Rolls On, The Minter Way, Terp Sized Turnout
The Ravens took to College Park for an open practice over the weekend before live tackling Monday
August is here. We have NFL football games this month. The Ravens took their show on the road as they held an open practice at the University of Maryland’s SECU Stadium before thousands of fans.
Derrick Henry’s Greatness is No Accident
Derrick Henry spoke to reporters this weekend:"I don't try to enter another season thinking about retiring and have that on my mind. That's not even my mindset," he said. "My mindset is: How can I get better, be the best teammate I can be so we can be the best team we can be?"
Henry is the grand legend amidst a renaissance of running back importance. What he’s done as he spectacularly ages into his 30’s hasn’t been done before. The Heisman winner turned 32 this January. Since turning 30, in the regular season alone, Henry has amassed 632 carries for a staggering 3,516 rushing yards and 32 rushing touchdowns. If you were to average that across one season, it’s 1,758 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns. Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, never came close to those numbers in his 30’s. Neither did Ladanian Tomlinson. Walter Payton got the closest of the bunch, rumbling for 1,684 yards at age 31, and even the great Barry Sanders bowed out with 1,491 in his final season at age 30. None of them touched what Henry is averaging right now.
There simply hasn’t been a running back to produce the way the behemoth freight train Henry has at this age. We’re seeing something that’s never been done before. The LeBron James of running backs, Henry is still truly elite despite the most prodigious workload the sport has ever seen. He owns the record for the most rushing yards ever by a player 30 or older in a single season, the 1,921 yards he piled up in 2024, and he shows no signs of giving that crown back.
And if you want the signature moment, look no further than Week 17 in Green Bay. With Lamar Jackson sidelined by a back injury and Tyler Huntley under center, the Ravens leaned entirely on Henry to keep their playoff hopes breathing, and he answered with one of the great performances of his career: 216 rushing yards and four touchdowns on a career-high 36 carries in a 41-24 win. It was the most rushing yardage any visiting player has ever put up at Lambeau Field, and it was his seventh career 200-yard game, moving him past Adrian Peterson and O.J. Simpson for the most in NFL history. With the season teetering, Baltimore handed the ball to the big man and he carried them, almost literally.
Jesse Minter has been cautious with his veterans, opting to get older stars like Henry ample rest early in camp. Henry, one of the sport’s all-time great workhorses, seemed to have what we’d call an active rest day at the Ravens UMD stadium practice.
30-year-old running backs are supposed to be crafty, tough, and reliable. They’re not supposed to be explosive game changers who can take over game after game. Appreciate King Henry while he’s here, we might not see something like this again for a very long time.
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