Derrick Henry has been rolling through the early part of the season like a man who still has plenty left in the tank. At 32, he’s already piled up 301 rushing yards and an NFL-leading six touchdowns on 66 carries, good for 4.6 yards per attempt. If that pace holds, he’s headed toward another 1,000-yard year - which would be the eighth of his Hall of Fame career.
Now comes a different kind of test in Week 4, and it happens to be against the Tennessee Titans, the team Henry called home before landing in Baltimore. Surprisingly, this will be the first time he’s faced Tennessee since joining the Ravens.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Henry said the Titans made no effort to keep him when he hit free agency in 2024.
"They shipped me out. Nah, I wouldn't say it like that, it's always love.
But nah, they didn't offer none at all," Henry said. "I think it was bittersweet.
I think I knew the writing was on the wall throughout that season, and they were ready to move on. And you know, good things don't last forever, so it was time for me to find a new home.
And I knew what home I wanted it to be, and it was here, so God is good."
Henry’s final season in Tennessee still produced strong numbers: 1,167 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on 280 carries, plus a 4.2 yards-per-carry average. He earned another Pro Bowl nod, but it was also his lowest rushing total in a full season since 2017, along with his worst efficiency mark in years.
Even with that dip, the Titans’ decision to move on turned heads. Henry remains second in franchise history with 9,502 rushing yards and is Tennessee’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns with 90, ahead of Earl Campbell’s 73, Eddie George’s 64 and Chris Johnson’s 50.
Any questions about whether Henry could still hit top gear faded fast once he got to Baltimore. In his first season with the Ravens in 2024, he ran for 1,921 yards, the second-highest total of his career and the NFL’s best that year, while scoring 16 touchdowns on 325 carries. He also posted a career-best 5.9 yards per carry and played every game.
He hasn’t slowed down, and Sunday gives him a shot to remind Tennessee exactly what it let walk.
Kickoff is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET in Baltimore.
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Derrick Henry Just Made Ravens-Titans Even More Personal
Derrick Henrys departure from Tennessee already carried plenty of weight, but his latest reflection adds another layer to one of the NFLs most familiar recent reunions. The former Titans star said the team did not offer him a contract before he signed with the Baltimore Ravens in 2024, and he called the whole ending bittersweet after years of carrying the franchises offense and becoming one of the defining players in modern Titans history.
Henry also said he could feel Tennessee was ready to move on during the 2023 season, which helps explain why the split came together the way it did. Since landing in Baltimore, he has kept producing at a high level, while the Titans have gone through a difficult stretch of their own, giving every meeting between the two sides a little more edge than a typical reunion ever could. [Read more 🡒]
Titans Quarterback Pressure Just Put Cam Ward In A Tough Spot
As the Titans turn their attention to Baltimore, the quarterback conversation around Cam Ward has only gotten louder. Tuesday morning brought no indication that head coach Robert Saleh was preparing to make a switch to Mitchell Trubisky, but the topic has clearly moved beyond idle chatter as Tennessee tries to steady an offense that has lagged near the bottom of the league in total production and scoring.
NFL insider Mike Jones floated the idea that a change could help both the team and Wards long-term development, especially if the rookie continues to struggle. For now, Ward still appears positioned to start, but the pressure around the position is real, and the next stretch of games could determine whether Tennessee keeps riding with him or finally considers a different direction. [Read more 🡒]
Two Memphis Powers Just Changed A Tennessee Football Debate
The most interesting football development in Tennessee right now is not happening on a college sideline or in an NFL building. It is coming from Memphis, where Memphis University School and Christian Brothers High School have decided to step away from their assigned TSSAA Division II-AAA schedules for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, a move that will keep both programs out of the state playoffs during that stretch. Instead, each school plans to build a 10-game regular season and finish with bowl games, a notable shift for two programs that have long been part of the private-school conversation in the state.
The timing matters because this decision lands right as the TSSAA is reshaping its private-school football classifications, adding another layer to an already evolving landscape. For the schools involved, it is as much about control over the schedule as it is about competition, but the ripple effect reaches beyond Memphis. Any change involving programs with this kind of profile tends to reopen the broader debate over how Tennessee should organize private-school football, and now the question is how many others might look at this move and wonder whether a different path is worth considering. [Read more 🡒]