Eddie George on Derrick Henry: 'He's Their Entire Team'

The Tennessee Titans' all-time leading rusher does not ranks their new leader in touchdowns as the NFL's best running back right now But it's close.

NASHVILLE – Eddie George can’t say that Derrick Henry is the NFL’s best running back at the moment.

However, the franchise’s career rushing leader verbalized what anyone who has seen the Tennessee Titans play in recent weeks – particularly last Sunday – already realizes.

“It’s all on the King’s shoulders,” George said in a video on The 33rd Team, where he revealed his latest weekly NFL running back rankings. “He’s their entire offense. He’s their entire team. He complements their defense very well.”

Through seven games, Henry has 755 rushing yards, which accounts for 37.8 percent of the Titans’ total offense. Add his 140 receiving yards (third on the team), and his impact grows to 44.8 percent of the offense’s total yards.

More notably, the two-time NFL rushing champion has had the ball in his hands 180 times (166 rushes, 14 receptions). That is 45.3 percent, or just under once every two plays on average.

Henry’s 219 rushing yards (on 32 carries) last week against the Houston Texans were the most by any player in a game this season. Austin Ekeler, of the Los Angeles Chargers, is next with 173. Similarly, no one has had more than 190 receiving yards in a game thus far.

Henry has topped 100 yards rushing in each of the last four games, which has had a lot to do with the fact that Tennessee has the AFC’s longest current win streak at five games. The Titans have won time of possession in each of the last three.

“We’ll see if he can continue that trend into Week 9 and beyond,” George said. “… He is having the Tennessee Titans play extremely well right now. [They are] one of the hottest teams in the NFL.”

Admittedly, George is not exactly an impartial observer when it comes to Henry. The two have built a relationship over the years, and George recorded a congratulatory video that aired last Sunday when Henry broke the franchise record for career touchdowns.

“He’s always been supportive from the time I got here,” Henry said this week. “Just doing Heisman [House] commercials with him, just talking to him, picking his brain and hanging out with him a couple times, that’s just how he’s always been.

“He’s a great ambassador for this organization. He’s a like a mentor. A big brother. He’s somebody that I looked up to growing up.”

Even with that connection, it is tough to argue with the fact that George has Henry at No. 2 in his current running back rankings behind only Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants. Barkley is second in the NFL in rushing with 779 yards. That is 24 more than Henry, although he has played one additional game. Barkley, however, is second in combined yards (first among all running backs).

This week, Henry and the Titans face the NFL’s third-ranked rush defense of the Kansas City Chiefs.