Though the odds of it happening are very unlikely, Derrick Henry isn’t fully ruling out the possibility of returning to the only NFL team he’s ever known.
The 30-year-old Henry is scheduled to enter free agency for the first time in his career, having completed the final season of a four-year, $50 million extension he signed back in the summer of 2020.
Henry thanked Titans fans at Nissan Stadium following the club’s Week 18 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, signaling the end of his eight-year run with the organization.
But during his recent appearance on the “Bussin’ with the Boys” podcast (h/t Grant Gordon of NFL.com), the two-time rushing champion indicated that a return to Tennessee is possible. Henry emphasized, however, that the team appears set to move on:
“I’m not saying it’s closed. But I just feel like they’re going in a different direction. I feel like [Vrabel’s firing] definitely solidified that. And that’s OK. That happens. That’s the nature of the business. We want something to last forever.
Nothing does, especially in this business. I’ll always be a Titan, even if I don’t come back. At the end of the day, I want to win the Super Bowl. Wherever that is that gives me the best chance, that’s what I want to do. I don’t have no bad blood or feel no type of way if I’m not back. It’s just what was supposed to happen. The story is already written, we’re all just living it.”
Few running backs in this day and age are productive in their 30s, but Henry showed no signs of slowing in his age-29 season. The 2020 Offensive Player of the Year finished second in rushing this season (1,167 yards), trailing only Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers.
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The Titans fired head coach Mike Vrabel after a 6-11 finish and are in the process of interviewing several candidates for the position. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill is also a pending free agent and unlikely to be retained by the Titans.
Indeed, it’s shaping up to be a brand new era of Titans football following a short-but-sweet run led by Henry, Tannehill and Vrabel that culminated in three postseason berths, two division titles and one AFC title game appearance.
