Getty Toughness and experience? Check and check. The Cowboys could get both with Derrick Henry.
If the Dallas Cowboys are serious about the things that coach Mike McCarthy talked about on Thursday, when it was announced that he was returning as the head coach despite yet another miserable playoff flop last weekend against Green Bay, then there will most certainly need to be changes made. The Cowboys can’t afford to go 12-5 all over again in the fall and wilt when the going gets tough in the winter. With that in mind, one change that makes imminent sense for the Cowboys is to swap out running backs, where Tony Pollard was a disappointment.
Pollard is a free agent and could well sign elsewhere. The Cowboys could fill his spot with an upgrade to the best running back of his era: Titans star Derrick Henry.
Make no mistake, when Henry picks his next team in free agency, he is going to want to win. For all the Cowboys’ faults, the team is loaded with talent and a tough-minded, proven workhorse like Henry could be the fit that hardens that talent into a true contender.
“I want to win a Super Bowl,” Henry said during an appearance on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast. “I ain’t done playing, I ain’t close to done playing. I still feel like I can run for another 2,000 but that’s for the future to tell.”
Derrick Henry Could Sign Bargain Deal With Cowboys
Sure, Henry is 30 years old, which is considered ancient in running back years. He might not be the same power back he was in 2020, when he rushed for 2,027 yards, becoming just the eighth player to reach that threshold. But don’t think for a moment he’s lost his rough-and-tumble touch—Henry rushed for 1,167 yards this season on a bad Titans team. In the last game of the season, he notched 153 yards on 19 carries.
Henry had four 100-yard games this season, which is four times as many as Pollard did for the Cowboys.
And it might not be overly expensive to bring in Henry, not at age 30. He is coming off a four-year, $50 million contract with Tennessee, and Spotrac projects him to warrant a bargain-basement deal worth $4.3 million for one year. Pro Football Focus has Henry landing a two-year deal at $20 million total, which is a bit more reasonable for someone of Henry’s skillset.
Henry said he does put winning first. But he is not going to entirely sacrifice the financial side of his next deal.
“I want to be somewhere that, whatever happens, gives me the best shot at winning the Super Bowl,” Henry said. “The business side, there’s a business side. It has to make sense. I’m not going to just accept anything, at the same time, because it is a long season and we put our bodies through a lot. But I definitely want to be on a roster that can go out there and put ourselves in position to win games and get in the playoffs and contend for a ring.”
Return to the Titans Unlikely
Henry did not entirely rule out a return to the Titans, the team that drafted him with the 45th overall pick in 2016. But he said he was surprised that the organization fired coach Mike Vrabel, and that it was clear to him throughout the year that the team was heading in a new direction and was going to rebuild. That could be an opportunity for the Cowboys.
Henry said he knew that was the case when stalwart defensive back Kevin Byard was traded.
“I was like, ‘Man, they trade KB, I might be out of here, too,” Henry said. “When you think of the Titans, I feel like KB represents all that and more. That’s when I knew it was getting realy. That’s what I felt when I first came back, it was definitely happening. It’s a business. At the end of the day, the Tennessee Titans are gonna look out for the Tennessee Titans.
“Everything’s got an expiration date, it’s just some are a little sooner than others. Definitely a different year.”