Titans Now Clear Winners in 2016 Trade With Rams

After a slow start, Derrick Henry's emergence as the NFL's most dominant running back tips the scales in Tennessee's favor.

Virtually every NFL draft has at least one significant trade that shakes up the order and those decisions can alter the immediate or long-term futures of multiple franchises.

Jon Robinson made one such move weeks before the 2016 NFL Draft, his first as Tennessee Titans’ general manager. Fresh off a 3-13 season, the Titans owned the league’s coveted No. 1 overall draft pick. But they did not need it.

Robinson coveted draft capital to address issues throughout the roster. So, he traded the first pick to the Los Angeles Rams for their first-round pick, two second-round picks, and 2017 first- and third-round picks. The Rams also received two 2016 draft picks.

Los Angeles selected Jared Goff, the top quarterback prospect, at No. 1 overall. The Titans then flipped the Rams’ No. 15 pick for the Browns’ No. 8 pick in order to select tackle Jack Conklin, who was an All-Pro in his first professional season.

Short term, it appeared as if the Rams won the trade. Goff had all of the makings of a franchise quarterback, the one thing every NFL team covets.

But now, it is clear that the Titans got the best of that blockbuster deal – but not because of what they did in the first round. They won it because they came away with Derrick Henry, arguably the best running back in the league, with the Rams’ 2016 second-round pick (No. 45 overall).

Initially, there was frustration and confusion when the Titans took the Heisman Trophy winner out of Alabama. At the time, running back hardly seemed like a pressing need.

A little more than a month earlier, Robinson acquired Pro Bowl running back DeMarco Murray in a trade with Philadelphia, and the feeling was that Henry was an unnecessary addition. The fact that he carried just 286 times for 1,234 yards over his first two seasons only strengthened that belief.

While Goff started just seven games and passed for just over 1,000 yards a rookie, he made more of an immediate impact. As a full-time starter in 2017, the quarterback finished tied for fourth in touchdown passes (28) and had the 10th-most yards (3,804). He earned his first career Pro Bowl selection and led the Rams to the playoffs. In 2018, he led the Rams to the Super Bowl and earned a second Pro Bowl nod after reaching career-highs in nearly every major passing category. He finished fourth in passing yards (4,688), threw 32 touchdowns and completed nearly 65 percent of his passes.

As Goff made a case for league MVP that season, Henry finally became the Titans’ No. 1 running back. He only provided a glimpse of what was to come when he rushed for more than 1,000 yards for the first time in his career and scored 12 touchdowns, the third-most in the league.

Since that season, the two have trended in trended different directions.

Henry has become one of the league’s top stars at any position. The fourth-leading rusher in Oilers/Titans history, he’s topped all running backs in rushing yards since Week 14 of the 2018 season with 4,152.

King Henry, as he has come to be known, has won consecutive rushing titles and led the league in carries in both seasons (2019, 2020). He became the eighth in history to rush for at least 2,000 yards when he carried 378 times for 2,027 yards, the fifth-highest total in NFL history, in 2020. He has five career 200-yard games, one shy of tying the all-time record, including three in 2020 capped by his franchise-record 250-yard output against the Houston Texans in Week 17.

In 2019, Henry almost singlehandedly powered the Titans to the AFC Championship game. He exploded for 446 yards in the three-game stretch, falling four yards shy of the Titans’ postseason record. That same year the Rams missed the postseason, and Goff had a relatively pedestrian 22 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions.

Henry has been to the Pro Bowl each of the last two years and was named 2020 Offensive Player of the Year after his historic season. Goff has not returned to the Pro Bowl since 2018 and has not earned any of the NFL’s top individual honors.

As Goff looked to be the future in Los Angeles, the Rams signed him to a four-year contract extension just before the 2019 season. This offseason, the Rams wanted a change after Goff seemingly plateaued. They traded him to the Detroit Lions in exchange for veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford.

The Titans inked Henry to a four-year extension in July 2020 and he promptly delivered the best season of his career – one of the best ever by a running back. The offense will continue to run through him in 2021, and likely beyond.

Of the other players Tennessee selected with the Rams’ picks, Conklin landed in Cleveland in free agency last year. Defensive tackle Austin Johnson, taken two picks ahead of Henry, never became more than a role player. Corey Davis, the No. 5 overall pick in 2017, had his moments but never quite lived up to high expectations. Tight end Jonnu Smith had a solid time in Tennessee but became too expensive to keep.

It took the Titans a while to see the ultimate benefits of that trade, but Henry, the only player remaining from that haul, has made the deal worth it. And he is why they can claim victory.