Ravens’ Derrick Henry can break rushing record, says Lamar Jackson

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Can Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry break the NFL’s single-season rushing record?

Lamar Jackson nodded when asked the question.

“It’s there,” Jackson said after practice Wednesday. “I feel like he has a great chance of achieving that. I think he can do it. I believe he can do it.”

In his first season with the Ravens, Henry is off to the best start of his successful nine-year career. With stiff arms and explosive runs, Henry averaged a league-best 124.7 yards in seven games.

He has a rushing speed of 2,120 yards, which would eclipse Eric Dickerson’s 40-year-old record. Dickerson ran for 2,105 yards for the Rams in 1984.

“I don’t really try to think about it too much,” Henry said when asked about Dickerson’s record. “Just focus on me doing my job and getting better and better every week. I don’t really try to get into the stats. I’m focused on the team goals.”

Henry’s 873 yards rushing are the most in the first seven games of a season since DeMarco Murray rushed for 913 yards in 2014. Murray finished with 1,845 yards rushing.

If Henry could break Dickerson’s record, he would deserve it. In Henry’s last 10 games, he’s faced eight run defenses that rank in the top half of the league, including the Cleveland Browns’ 15th-ranked run defense on Sunday.

But Henry has proven he can defy the numbers. His 873 yards are the second most by a player age 30 or older in seven games in NFL history, trailing only Walter Payton’s 875 yards in 1984.

Henry said it doesn’t matter if teams were shy about signing him as a free agent because of his age seven months ago.

“I went to the team I was supposed to go to and the team I wanted to go to,” Henry said. “I don’t worry about what people say. I do what works for Derrick Henry and I’m a Baltimore Raven. I want to do my best to help us win every week.”

It was four years ago when Henry ran for 2,027 total yards, 94 yards shy of Dickerson’s mark. At his current pace, Henry would become the first player in NFL history to record two 2,000-yard rushing seasons.

At 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 220 pounds, Henry poses a tall order even for NFL defenders. But in an interview with ESPN, NBA star Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves said he believes he can play free safety play and believe that he can defeat Henry.

“He’s crazy,” a smiling Henry said of Edwards, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 220 pounds. “I mean, everyone has a fantasy. … We need to set up a training camp where basketball players can come here and put these pads on and see if they can really do it.”