Henry Injured, Will Have Surgery

The Tennessee Titans running back played the entire way Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts but averaged just 2.4 yards per attempt.

Update, 12:25 p.m. (CDT):

NASHVILLE -- Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel confirmed at his regular Monday press conference that running back Derrick Henry would undergo foot surgery on Tuesday and would miss an extended period. Vrabel would not concede that the two-time rushing champion is out for the season. 

"Doctors love timelines," Vrabel said. "I'm sure they will try to give us one. I won't necessarily listen to it.

"... I think there's a chance that anything could happen. There's absolutely a chance [that Henry could return this season]. Now, I can't sit here and tell you that that's going to happen. I just know that Derrick Henry ... is going to do everything that (he) possibly can to get back as quickly as (he) possibly can." 

Henry was placed on injured reserve Monday afternoon.

Original story:

Derrick Henry made it to the end of the game. But the Tennessee Titans running back could be finished for the year, according to a report Monday morning.

Henry will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the extent of an injury sustained during Sunday’s 34-31 overtime victory over the Indianapolis Colts, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who added that there is a possibility that the issue season-ending.

Titans’ RB Derrick Henry suffered a potentially season-ending foot injury during Sunday’s 34-31 win over Indianapolis, sources reported ESPN. Henry is undergoing an MRI today to determine the full extent of the damage.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 1, 2021

The two-time NFL rushing champion limped off the field early in the contest with what looked to be an issue with his right leg. He ultimately played 54 snaps out of a possible 73 on offense and carried the ball 28 times, the sixth time in eight games that he had at least that many attempts.

He finished with 68 yards, a season-low average of 2.4 per carry. His long run was nine yards, the first time since Oct. 13, 2019, that he did not have at least one gain of 10 yards or more.

Henry was not available to the media after the game as usual. A team spokesperson said that he was receiving treatment.

The eighth back in league history to rush for 2,000 yards (he had 2,027 last season), Henry developed into a leading MVP candidate through the first half of this season. He leads the league with 937 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. No one else has more than 649 and nine, respectively.

He also has caught 18 passes (one short of his career-high) for 154 yards. With 1,091 yards, he has accounted for 36.1 percent of the Titans’ offense.

A second-round pick out of Alabama in 2016, Henry has missed just two games in his career. He sat out the ninth contest of his rookie season with a calf strain and was held out in Week 16 of 2019 to rest a hamstring strain that he had played through in previous weeks.

Over the last two-plus seasons, he has developed a reputation as one of the game’s most durable and reliable players. He led the NFL with 303 rushing attempts in 2019 and with 378 rushing attempts and 397 total touches in 2020. His 2019 rushes and 237 total touches through the first eight games of this season also lead the league. 

Since the start of 2019, Henry has had 955 touches for 4,978 yards from scrimmage. Dallas’ Ezekiel Elliott is second over that span with 789 touches, and Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook is second with 4,089 yards from scrimmage. 

That workload was an oft-discussed topic throughout the offseason and the early part of the regular season given that history shows it is not sustainable over a period of years. Henry routinely dismissed such talk and expressed complete confidence in his preparation and his approach to rest and recovery. Coaches also were careful to limit his work during training camp and routinely have rested him for one day of practice each week during the regular season.