Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry is not only on pace to have the best season of his nine-year NFL career, but arguably the best in NFL history.
Through the first seven weeks of the season, he has rushed for 873 yards on 134 carries (6.5 yards per carry) and eight touchdowns.
That puts Henry on pace to finish the season with 2,120 rushing yards, which would break his 2,027-yard career high and Eric Dickerson’s 2,105-yard single-season record.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson believes he’ll do it, too.
“It’s there,” Jackson said via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “I feel like he has a great chance of achieving that. I think he can do it. I believe he can do it.”
Henry has had a great start to the season, but it will still be difficult to break the record, which has gone untouched for 40 years.
Dickerson set the single-season rushing record in 1984 when there were only 16 games in the regular season. Henry is on pace to record just 15 more rushing yards in a 17-game season.
That’s why Henry is doing his best to not think about it too much with 10 games still to play in the regular season.
“I don’t really try to think about that too much,” Henry said. “Just focus on me doing my job and being better and better every week. I don’t really try to get into the statistics of things. I focus on the team goals.”
The single-season rushing record isn’t the only one Henry could break by the end of the year, either. He can also become the first player in NFL history to have two career 2,000-yard seasons.
The 30-year-old didn’t have many suitors as a free agent this offseason, but now he has several teams kicking themselves as he has seemingly turned back the clock.
It’s safe to say Henry is happy with how things played out.
“I went to the team I was supposed to go to and that I wanted to go to,” Henry continued. “I can’t worry about what people say. I do what works for Derrick Henry and I’m a Baltimore Raven. I want to do the best I can to help us win each and every week.”
Henry figures to play a large role once again in Week 8 when the Ravens take on the Cleveland Browns (1-6).
