Derrick Henry joins elite company with big Week 5 performance

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Derrick Henry is unstoppable. If it feels like The King sets a new record or joins elite company every week, it’s because he probably does.

There are plenty of stats to discuss from Sunday’s 37-point performance, but this one may ultimately take the cake:

That fun fact is yet another testament of Henry’s uncanny ability to explode for massive games with a truly rare and exciting level of consistency. Henry was extremely consistent on Sunday. He didn’t rely on a big run to achieve this type of performance. In fact, Henry’s longest run of the day went for a mere 15 yards. Give Jacksonville some credit. They came to play a physical brand of football. It was tough sledding in the first half, but Henry wore down that defense in the second half. There was some impressive run blocking up front by the offensive line.

Henry now leads the league in rushing with an astounding 640 rushing yards through just five games. We always hear a lot about how Nick Chubb may be a better runner, or that Alvin Kamara or Christian McCaffrey are better players because they catch more passes than Henry does, but it’s rubbish. Those guys are excellent players in their own right, but Henry is the best running back in the NFL and he proves it week in, week out. Don’t look now, but Henry is on pace for 2,176 rushing yards and 24 TD’s this season. That would set the all-time record and make Henry the first player in league history to rush for 2,000-plus yards in back-to-back seasons. We love his chances of achieving all of this and more in 2021.

Henry will look to carry that momentum into a must-watch Week 6 primetime showdown with the excellent Buffalo Bills.