Henry Named Offensive Player of the Year
Once again, Derrick Henry’s performance was not overlooked.
Yet once again, the Tennessee Titans running back was not deemed the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.
Henry was named the 2020 Offensive Player of the Year during the league’s official awards show Saturday, the eve of Super Bowl LV. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was named the MVP.
The same scenario played out in the postseason awards administered by the Professional Football Writers of America.
“I’m going to help y’all out for tonight’s ‘MVP’ award,” Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown tweeted hours before the winners were revealed. “The only correct answer is (Derrick Henry). Don’t mess this up NFL.”
Brown buffeted his argument in a subsequent tweet a short time later: “(Henry) ran for (2,000) yards. He didn’t throw the ball and let someone do the rest but he ran, juked, ran over grown men . He didn’t just get (1,000) yards but he got it twice in the same season. This ain’t up for debate NFL.”
His efforts were of no avail.
Winners were determined by a vote of 50 print, radio and television reporters who primarily cover the league on a national basis rather than a team basis. Voting was completed at the end of the regular season.
Henry was not even one of the three finalists for the award. The runners-up to Rodgers were two other quarterbacks, Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes and Buffalo's Josh Allen.
Still, Henry is the 10th running back in the last 20 years to be named AP Offensive Player of the Year. Marshall Faulk (2001), Priest Holmes (2002), Jamal Lewis (2003), Shaun Alexander (2005), LaDainian Tomlinson (2006), Chris Johnson (2009), Adrian Peterson (2012), DeMarco Murray (2014) and Todd Gurley (2017) also collected the award. Alexander, Tomlinson and Peterson are the only ones who also were named Most Valuable Player in those seasons.
Henry became the league’s first back-to-back rushing champion when he ran for 2,027 yards, the fifth-highest total in NFL history.
He led all players with 17 rushing touchdowns and tied for third overall in total touchdowns. He also became the first player with multiple overtime touchdowns in the same season, when he scored the game-winner against Houston (Week 6) and Baltimore (Week 11). Tennessee was 8-2 when he scored a touchdown, 6-0 when he scored more than one.
The 2016 second-round pick out of Alabama produced three of the top four single-game rushing totals of the season.
“[I] play how I play each and every week, doing everything to help the team,” he said following the regular season. “… There’s nothing much to it. It’s football. If you have success, that comes with it. But [I]do whatever I can to help the team when I get opportunities in any way I can.”
The other finalists were Rodgers and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
The AP awards are recognized as the official NFL honors. Other notable winners included Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams (Defensive Player of the Year), Washington's Alex Smith (Comeback Player of the Year), Washington's Chase Young (Defensive Rookie of the Year) and L.A. Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (Offensive Rookie of the Year).
