Henry, Tannehill Positioned to Climb NFL Career Lists

It will not take extraordinary performances for the running back and quarterback to move into the top 50 in career rushing and passing yards, respectively.

NASHVILLE – If there was one message Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry delivered emphatically during minicamp, it’s that he felt just fine, thank you very much.

“I feel good. I’ve been training since I left,” said Henry, who missed the team’s last nine regular-season games with a broken foot before returning for a playoff contest. “It’s been a good offseason. I feel good.”

That’s great news for Henry and the Titans, of course, but bad news for those running backs currently ahead of Henry on the NFL’s career rushing yards list.

The same might be said regarding quarterbacks currently ahead of the Titans’ Ryan Tannehill in career passing yards.

That’s because Henry and Tannehill – if they put together productive seasons – are each likely to bypass a bundle of Hall of Famers in 2022. The 28-year-old Henry could crack the NFL’s top 50 in career rushing yards by the end of this season. The 33-year-old Tannehill should easily crack the top 50 in career passing yards and has a good shot at reaching the top 40.

Here’s a closer look at where each of the players stand and who they may leapfrog this season:

HENRY

Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports

Career rushing yards: 6,797

Career NFL ranking: 71st

What could happen this season: With a relatively routine (for Henry) 1,000-yard season, Henry would probably wind up no lower than 54th all-time. He would move past three Hall of Famers – 70th-place John Henry Johnson (6,803), 62nd-place Leroy Kelly (7,274 yards) and 56th-place Terrell Davis (7,607) – along with other big names like 64th-ranked DeMarco Murray (Henry’s former Titans teammate, who has 7,174 yards) and 63rd-ranked George Rogers (7,176 yards).

How much to reach the top 50? Henry would almost certainly crack the career top-50 list with a 1,300-yard season, which would move him to 8,097 yards. (That would be the case even if two active NFL running backs – New Orleans’ Mark Ingram and Dallas’ Zeke Elliott – remain ahead of him on the all-time list.) If Henry does hit the 1,300-yard mark this season, he’d blow past yet another Hall of Famer, 49th-ranked Larry Csonka (8,081 yards).

TANNEHILL

Career passing yards: 30,729

Career NFL ranking: 52nd

What could happen this season: It would take an early injury or benching for Tannehill not to crack the NFL’s top 50 all-time list. If he totals just 576 passing yards, he’ll move past former Titans great Steve McNair (31,304 yards) and into 50^th place. There’s no one on the all-time list that would catch Tannehill this year either.

How much to reach the top 40? Tannehill would almost certainly crack the career top-40 list with a 2,734-yard season, which would move him to 33,504 passing yards for his career. That would be the case even if two active NFL quarterbacks, Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins and Las Vegas’ Derek Carr, remain ahead of him on the all-time list. Check out some of the names Tannehill would shoot past if he cracks the top 40: Hall of Famers Sonny Jurgensen (32,224 yards); Kurt Warner (32,344 yards); Troy Aikman (32,942 yards); Y.A. Tittle (33,070 yards); and Steve Young (33,124 yards), along with other standouts like Ken Anderson (32,838 yards) and Phil Simms (33,462).