Was there a bigger surprise on this year's Titans than Travis Henry? Before the 2005 season Floyd Reese send a 3rd round pick to the Bills for Henry. Most Titans fans were calling that a terrible move after last season. Does anyone still have that opinion now?
Henry had a slow start to the season. He and Chris Brown were basically alternating weeks being active through the first 5 games. The difference between Brown and Henry was that Henry used the situation to motivate himself to play better while Brown just wanted out.
The turning point for Henry was week 5 at Indianapolis. Henry had been inactive the week before and was not even told he would be inactive until right before game time. He took the anger from that out on the Colts when he rushed for 123 yards on just 19 carries. Henry never looked back.
On the season Henry carried the ball 270 times for 1211 yards (4.5 ypc) with 7 TDs and only 1 fumble lost.
Henry is the classic Jeff Fisher type RB. He can carry the ball 20+ times a game and wear defenses down. He is durable and he gets stronger as the game goes along. He is not really a home run hitter but he does have the break away speed necessary to be a successful runner in the NFL.
What happens with Henry this offseason will be interesting. He is due an 8.3 million dollar roster bonus for 2007 and that is going to have to be re-negotiated. Henry has the upper hand when it comes to these negotiations because of his great play this season. The Titans are also going to need him back because Chris Brown is gone and that leaves only LenDale White on the roster. The Titans are by no means ready to count on LenDale to be their every down back.
Henry will be entering his 7th season next year but in 2 of those he didn't get much work so he still has a lot of gas left in the tank. The Titans will work something out to have Henry back in 2007. The thought of VY and Henry together in the backfield should be a really exciting one for Titans fans.