Derrick Henry agreed last Wednesday to a two-year, $30 million contract extension with the Baltimore Ravens, which keeps him with the franchise through the 2027 season and includes $25 million of fully guaranteed money over the next two years. After he secured the lucrative deal, which made him the highest-paid running back over the age of 30 in NFL history, Henry said he “fell in love” with Baltimore and relished the tremendous start to his time with the Ravens.
The extension adds onto the original two-year, $16 million deal Henry signed last offseason as a free agent. His average annual salary is set to increase by nearly 100% to $15 million, making him the third-highest paid running back in the NFL from a new-money perspective.
“Embarking on a new journey — I was in Tennessee for eight years — coming here, everything was new and all I want to do is gain my respect from my teammates and everybody in this organization by the way I work and carry myself,” Henry said in his Monday media availability. “Over time, once I got here, I fell in love with everything. With the brotherhood, by the way they work, how they approach everything. And then get into the season and it’s like icing on the cake.”
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Henry racked up 1,921 rushing yards in his debut season in Baltimore and nearly eclipsed the 2,000-yard threshold for the second time in his career. The two-time NFL rushing champion paced the league with 16 rushing touchdowns in his age-30 campaign. The Ravens went 12-5 and won the AFC North before falling in heartbreaking fashion to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC divisional round.
“We came up short, but it was a lot of fun and we have a lot of great players, a lot of top players in this league, playmakers,” Henry said. “It’s always fun when you’ve got guys around you that are at the top of their position and can change the game at any point.”
The contract extension made Henry the latest running back to capitalize financially on the ballcarrier renaissance. The Philadelphia Eagles earlier this offseason made Saquon Barkley the highest-paid running back in NFL history with a similar two-year extension worth more than $20 million per year.
Henry, who joined the league by way of Alabama as a second-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, ran for at least 1,000 yards in six of his first nine professional seasons. He set career-best marks in 2020 with 378 carries, 2,027 yards and 17 touchdowns for the Tennessee Titans.
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