Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry has seen his workload go down over the last six weeks as compared to what it was at the start of the season.
Through his first three games of 2020, Henry averaged a robust 27.3 carries per contest, which I think we can all agree is not sustainable when it comes to avoiding injury, no matter how big Henry is.
In the last six games, Henry has seen a drop in action, as he’s averaging 19.8 totes per game in that span, and he has totaled less than 20 carries in three of those six contests. The Titans are 3-3 in that span.
In Tennessee’s last four games, of which the team is 1-3, Henry is averaging 19.5 carries per game, including less than 20 in two contests.
Instead of running Henry as much as they did early on in the season, the Titans have relied a bit more on backup running backs Jeremy McNichols and D’Onta Foreman, both of whom have performed well in limited action.
On Wednesday, Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill revealed that Henry’s drop in carries is “by design,” according to Terry McCormick of Titan Insider.
“That’s been by design. He started the season off with a really high rate of carries per game and something that’s probably going to be unsustainable as you get deep into this year or deep in his career,” Tannehill said. “We wanted to take some stuff off his plate there and give some other guys an opportunity to make some plays. Derrick’s going to continue to be a huge part of our offense and the workhorse that he is. It’s been by design to keep his carries to a manageable level, a level where he can still go out and make plays for us and get into a rhythm but not to where he’s getting 40 carries a game and it’s not a sustainable amount of reps.”
While he’s no doubt seeing less carries than he did during the Titans’ first three games, Henry is actually averaging 22.3 carries per game overall, which is over two more than in 2019. Of course, that number is a bit skewed thanks to the heavy workload he saw early on.
Are we going to sit here and say that Henry’s drop in carries is the reason the Titans are struggling to win games of late? Absolutely not; the Titans have bigger fish to fry in the passing game and on defense and special teams.
We will say that it’s always better to get the ball into Henry’s hands as much as possible, being that he’s one of the team’s best playmakers and can flip a game with just one run. On top of that, getting him going helps keep the defense off the field and sets up the passing attack via play-action.
It’s up to the Titans to find that middle ground that has Henry getting more looks than he has lately, but less than what he had earlier in the season in order to keep him fresh for the long haul. At, the Titans’ star back should be seeing 20 totes per game.