Derrick Henry Running Under Center More For Ravens Could Be A Big Problem For Defenses

So much of the hoopla surrounding the Ravens new offense has focused on the passing game. When the two-time MVP quarterback is basically the same age as the offensive coordinator and infinitely more experienced than him, that’s only natural.

But the system being installed by Declan Doyle for the first time is going to be run heavy. Doyle’s primary coaching mentors are Broncos head coach Sean Payton – versatile and powerful tablet of tun plays predicated off under center looks as he explained on “The Daily Flock Show” – and Bears coach Ben Johnson, whose offense is built off the same fundamental principles. It’s all about under center in Baltimore and increasingly more of the NFL, and we’re already seeing it this summer.

Doyle, even with a bunch of college kids on the field Saturday (most playing almost exclusively in the shotgun) with all the key Ravens veterans resting, got his reserved well versed in operating under center. Baltimore ran the ball 36 times and 30 were from under center – a ratio never seen anything close to before during the Lamar Jackson era – and as much as Jackson should benefit from the changes (he led the NFL in EPA under center last season but didn’t operate that way nearly enough),

Derrick Henry, in his age 32 season, might be the biggest beneficiary.

History tells us this is the age when every RB hits the wall – 55 years of data we studied points to that conclusion – and Doyle is not backing away from putting the ball in his gut 300 times again this season, even though Henry has never done it three straight years in his entire career. Giving him the opportunity to attack defenses from seven yards back, behind the quarterback, and immediately get downfield with the frequency he did when in Tennessee might be to his advantage.

“It’s huge,” former head coach Todd Haley told me on “The Daily Flock” about the Ravens going heavy under center. “You got a guy like Derrick Henry sitting back there and you’re telling me he’s not more intimidating when he’s seven yards back, toes at seven, behind the quarterback and center running downhill?

“And then how that translates into play action off of those fakes. You just talk to any defensive player, they’re going to say it’s much more difficult from the home position, which is quarterback under center. I’m just excited, Jason, and it’s a cyclical league and it’s coming back into it’s own …

“We know defenses have adjusted to the spread and that means smaller, more athletic linebackers; instead of bring 250 they are 220, 215. And now I think smart guys are using that to their advantage – get in under center and pound it at them, and tie in play action with that … I think it creates a true conflict of assignment for those linebackers, safeties, everybody on defense who is involved."

Back To The Future

Henry had much closer to an even split of under center to shotgun/pistol runs since coming to Baltimore in 2024 (59% under center). But that’s nothing like what he did with the Titans and frankly nothing like what we are likely to see this season. It’s nothing like what Johnson and Payton believe in.

From 2016-2023 with the Titans, 79% of Henry’s runs were under center and he led the NFL in production from that deployment.

Here’s where Henry ranked in under center runs in that span.

Player Rushes Yards TD

Henry 1604 7616 71

Zeke Elliott 1463 6341 52

Dalvin Cook 1096 4948 51 (Todd Gurley)

Henry had just 426 pistol and gun runs in his entire time in Tennessee, and already has 259 here.

Now, with Jackson being such a dervish and unique athlete, there is still a place for gun looks, and option football isn’t entirely going away, but as he approaches age 30 there is also going to be a recalibration in designed runs and that’s not been a forte within the construct of the Payton and Johnson offenses he’s grown up with. The Bears, where Doyle was last year, ran 70% of their run plays from under center.

Henry is never satisfied and he continues to produce at a ridiculous rate at this point in his career. The Ravens are not pushing him physically in any way now, saving it for when it counts, with Henry well aware of what he needs to get sufficiently calloused for the regular season.

He’s not going to tell Doyle to back off him, and running Henry like mad early in a year while a new offensive line gels and everyone learns all the new verbiage and concepts in the passing game might make a lot of sense, especially as Doyle learns how to call plays and adapt and evolve. Getting Henry into what he’s been most comfortable with can’t hurt as everyone braces for Week 1.

"I do not think you are ever where you want to be as an offense coming into the second preseason game,” Henry said after Wednesday’s joint practice with the Vikings. “We are looking to grow every day and get better every day, and we are never going to be satisfied with where we are at, whether it is good or whatever it is.

“Always looking to get better each and every day, each and every week, looking for room to improve. Whether it is in the meetings, whether it is in film, or in practice, you always have got to have that mindset of you never arrive, no matter how good it is."

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