Derrick Henry’s workload is starting to look less like a feature of the Ravens’ offense and more like the entire blueprint.
Through five games, the 32-year-old back has already piled up 113 carries - the most ever by an NFL running back in his age-32 season at this point on the calendar. That total sits ahead of Walter Payton’s 110, Curtis Martin’s 105, and the rest of the small list of backs who were asked to carry that kind of burden at that age. Henry also leads that group with seven touchdowns, even though his 4.2 yards per carry is right around league average.
And the raw volume keeps climbing.
Back in the summer, rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle didn’t flinch when asked about Henry potentially reaching 300 carries or more. He made it clear the Ravens were planning to lean hard on him.
“He is a special talent,” Doyle said of Henry this summer. “There are not many guys in the league who can do what he does.
The vision for him in the offense is an immense role. Obviously, I don't want to put a number on the amount of [carries], because obviously, as you look at every single week, every week is different.
You want to be able to deploy things in different ways, and at the same point in time, he's going to have a pretty large workload.”
That workload has only gotten heavier as Baltimore has dealt with a new offensive line every week, major problems at center, and the possibility of being without two-time MVP Lamar Jackson again this week. Rookie guard Vega Ioane has even been moved to center as the Ravens try to patch things together.
Henry, though, keeps chugging.
On Sunday night, in a game the Ravens had to finish with backup Snoop Huntley at quarterback, Henry was still one of the freshest and most decisive players on the field. Baltimore closed it out with a game-winning, seven-minute overtime drive, and Henry topped 100 yards while touching the ball 25 more times to help seal it.
“Obviously, we wanted to score, but I think having that drive was great for us to be able to keep the momentum going, keep the drive going, letting the clock run down, and just keeping that energy,” Henry said after the gutsy win. “I feel like guys were just focused on another level, and great execution by every single body on offense.
The O-line - hell of a job. They did a great job in the run game."
The production has not come easily. Henry is getting hit behind the line more often than he has in any of his Ravens seasons, and this is not the same explosive version of the run game he’s had in the past. Still, he remains central to everything Baltimore wants to do on offense, especially with a defense that has had its own issues and needs help staying off the field.
His 476 rushing yards are already 30 shy of Walter Payton’s mark for the most by an age-32 running back through five weeks. That’s a striking number on its own, and it helps explain why the concerns around his pace are so real.
The context around his start only sharpens the picture. Henry had 64 rushing attempts through five games last year and 95 the year before that.
He has already surpassed both of those totals this season, and he’s doing it without the same efficiency. He is averaging 0.99 yards before contact this year, down from 1.77 at this point last season and 2.66 in 2024.
He has also added eight catches for 62 yards and a touchdown. That matters because he has never had more than 15 catches in a season as a Raven.
If Henry simply kept up his current pace, the numbers would get wild fast. At 22.6 carries per game, he’d be on track for 384 carries.
That would blow past anything he has ever done before. His career high is 378, and his 2021 season - the only time he was above this level of workload through five games - ended early because of injury, with Henry playing only eight games.
Baltimore has never used him this heavily through the first five weeks, either. His previous high with the Ravens was 325 carries in a season. Now the Ravens are asking him to handle a pace that would test every limit on the page.
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