Derrick Henry Has a Thought on Uniform Rules

The Tennessee Titans' two-time NFL rushing champion wants to see more old looks in future seasons.

Derrick Henry thinks it would be cool to wear No. 2 once again.

During his high school career in Yulee, Florida, Henry became the all-time high school football rushing leader wearing that number. That number has since been retired by the Yulee High School football program.

As his stardom continued to grow at the University of Alabama, he won the Heisman Trophy, helped the Crimson Tide win Southeastern Conference and National championships and earned numerous other awards, all while wearing No. 2.

Wearing No. 22 for the Tennessee Titans, Henry seemingly has embarked on a Hall of Fame path. He has won back-to-back rushing titles, became the eighth player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season and was last season’s Offensive Player of the Year.

But amid reports that the NFL will pass a proposal put forth by the Kansas City Chiefs to relax jersey-number restrictions, Henry stoked the flames on another long-standing uniform demand: throwback jerseys.

“Single digits cool & all, but can we bring the throwback jerseys & helmets back?” Henry tweeted on Friday. “Somebody put in a request for that lol [laugh out loud].”

At least one of his teammates would like to see the same. In response to Henry, wide receiver A.J. Brown said, “Yes!!! Let’s bring the throwback unis back @NFL.”

In particular, Titans fans are infatuated with the franchise’s past when it comes to uniforms. They have long wanted the NFL to allow the Titans to bring back the old-time Houston/Tennessee Oilers look, a perfect mixture of Columbia blue, red and white.

In 2009, players wore throwback uniforms as part of four legacy games that season meant to recognize the 50th anniversary of the American Football League, of which the Oilers were a founding member. The old looks were on display once in the preseason, the Hall of Fame Game against Buffalo, and three times in the regular season (Tennessee went 1-2 in those games).

The franchise was founded in 1960 and donned those colors for nearly 40 years. Founder K.S. “Bud” Adams moved the team in 1997. It played home games that first year at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis and in 1998 at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville.

When the franchise finally moved into its current home, Nissan Stadium, in 1999, officials changed the team’s nickname from Oilers to Titans. In turn, a new uniform scheme was implemented. That included navy blue home jerseys with white pants, white road jerseys with light blue pants and light blue alternate jerseys with navy blue pants.

In 2018, controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk, a daughter of the franchise founder, commissioned a redesign of the team’s look and those uniforms have been used for the last three seasons.

A year later, she said she was in no rush to adopt the historical look, even for a game. Maybe a two-time rushing champion can change her mind.