Derrick Henry Is The Ageless Wonder For Fantasy Football Running Backs
Fantasy

Derrick Henry Is The Ageless Wonder For Fantasy Football Running Backs

Ian Hartitz examines the case how Derrick Henry has remained among the best running backs in fantasy football, even well past his 30th birthday.

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INTRO

Will Father Time ever come for King Henry?

Henry's 2025 campaign wasn't quite as cool as 2024. Don't get it twisted: 1,745 total yards and 16 touchdowns are some pretty cool counting numbers, especially with the big dog supplying 18-128-2 and 36-216-4 rushing performances in the last two rounds of the fantasy playoffs.

Still, this wasn't quite the same monster that we saw unleashed in his first year wearing purple.

  • Yards per carry: 2024 - 5.9 (1st), 2025 - 5.2 (3rd)
  • Success rate: 2024 - 58.8% (2nd), 2025 - 53.1% (10th)
  • Yards after contact per carry: 2024 - 3.5 (3rd), 2025 - 3.6 (3rd)
  • Tackles avoided per carry: 2024 - 24.3% (6th), 2025 - 14% (32nd)
  • Explosive rush rate: 2024 - 11.4% (2nd), 2025 - 9.8% (5th)

Some pretty great numbers relative to most mere mortals, but the concern is what if the dropoff in efficiency is a sign of more struggles to come? After all, Henry will be 33 in January, and the recent history of running backs supplying too big of booms at this point of their career is pretty rare.

But hey, Henry is responsible for two of the three highest-scoring seasons from an RB age 30 or older during the last decade. He's played at least 15 games in all but one of his 10 NFL seasons. If anyone is capable of continuing to tell Father Time to f*ck right off, it's him. Especially with the Ravens boasting a massive 11.5 win total—AKA plenty of potential leading game scripts and opportunities for one of the sport's all-time great running backs to ice away some games.

Ultimately, I'm fine mixing in Henry in the middle of Round 2 in half-PPR formats. Fantasy Life's consensus RB11 currently carries an RB12 ADP, so our squad of alleged experts is in agreement that the price is right. I wouldn't exactly advise making sure you leave EVERY draft with a 32-year-old RB with 3,062 career touches, but then again, doubting King Henry has seldom gone too well over the years.

Also note: The departure of pint-sized speedster Keaton Mitchell could open up a few more weekly touches for Justice Hill, Rasheen Ali, and Adam Randall, but it's tough to feel too confident about any of them actually carrying handcuff upside worth caring about. Maybe someone emerges as the clear No. 2 in August; just realize for now Hill profiles as the sort of veteran pass-down option capable of limiting either the ceiling of the other guys. The Ravens also haven't been shy about adding elderly veterans to their RB and WR rooms; this is one of those situations where a trade (Alvin Kamara?) or free agent (Kareem Hunt?) could actually produce the handcuff in the event that Henry misses time.

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Derrick Henry
    DerrickHenry
    RBBALBAL
    PPG
    15.9
    Proj
    248.3

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