Derrick Henry has led the league in carries four of the past five seasons. Now in Baltimore, the Ravens still envision him being the kind of bell-cow running back he was in Tennessee.
“I know this: If [Henry] carries it 300 times, we’re having a helluva year,” Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken said Thursday after Organized Team Activities.
“It means we’re running it a lot. It means we’re up in games. We want him to finish, [and] we want him to be the closer.”
Lamar Jackson has led the Ravens in rushing yards every season since 2019. Even though Jackson has slimmed down in an effort to become more agile, that’s probably going to change this year.
Last season, Gus Edwards led the Ravens’ running backs by a wide margin with 198 carries. Henry led the league with 280.
Baltimore has long used a running-back-by-committee approach. The last time a Ravens running back hit 200 carries was Mark Ingram with 202 in 2019. Alex Collins had 212 in 2017 and Justin Forsett had 235 in 2014.
Now at 30 years old, there are questions about Henry’s physical ability to keep handling such a heavy workload. Monken is cognizant of not putting too much on Henry’s plate.
“First and foremost, like every player, we want him to make it through the season. It’s a long season – 17 games,” Monken said. “So, we’ll see how that goes. I mean, he’s been so durable.”
While Jackson’s pass-run ratio may continue to trend toward more passing, his legs will take some of the work off Henry’s plate. Plus, the Ravens feel confident in Justice Hill, Keaton Mitchell once he’s back on the field (not Week 1), and rookie Rasheen Ali.
“I thought we did a good job last year of rotating the backs. I mean, Gus was powerful, but we split the reps,” Monken said. “Now, we had Keaton, who came on, and we had Justice and those guys, but I still anticipate the same – of using all of our backs [and] trying to put them in the best position to be successful.”