Report: Henry, Titans Won't Agree to Long-Term Extension
Derrick Henry is likely to play the 2020 NFL season on the one-year, non-exclusive franchise tender he signed in April.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Tuesday morning that the NFL’s leading rusher and the Tennessee Titans are not expected to come to terms on a long-term extension before 3 p.m. (CDT) Wednesday, the deadline to reach a deal that would negate the one-year, $10.278 million franchise tender.
Schefter added that salary cap uncertainty for 2021 and beyond created by the COVID-19 pandemic makes it likely that all tagged players will play the coming season on those one-year deals.
Henry is one of 14 players across the league tagged by his team in March as a way to retain his rights (13 received franchise tags and Arizona running back Kenyon Drake got a transition tag). He led the NFL with 303 carries and 1,540 rushing yards in 2019 and added a league-best 446 postseason rushing yards as the Titans advanced to the AFC Championship game.
The 2015 Heisman Trophy winner has been Tennessee’s leading rusher each of the last three seasons and is the most prominent player on the roster not under contract beyond 2020.
The Titans’ starting quarterback (Ryan Tannehill), their leaders in receptions (A.J. Brown) and sacks (Harold Landry) from 2019, their best offensive linemen (Taylor Lewan) and the man who has more interceptions over the past three seasons than any player in the NFL, safety Kevin Byard, are all under contract for multiple seasons. Brown and Landry are still playing under their rookie contracts.
Instead, Henry falls into the same category as the overwhelming majority of those who have done business with the Titans this offseason. Free agents Vic Beasley, cornerback Johnathan Joseph, tackle Ty Sambrailo and defensive end Jack Crawford as well as returning players like linebacker Kamalei Correa, tight end MyCole Pruitt, cornerback Tye Smith, linebacker Reggie Gilbert and tight end Anthony Firkser all signed one-year deals earlier in the offseason.
Henry rushed for 100 yards or more in five of the final six regular season games capped by a 211-yard performance against Houston. He had two of the league’s top four single-game rushing performances and two of the top three playoff performances last season.
With 3,833 career rushing yards, he already ranks fifth in franchise history. Only Dallas’ Ezekiel Elliott, Atlanta’s Todd Gurley and Philadelphia’s Jordan Howard have had more rushing yards over the past four seasons, and only Gurley and Elliott have scored more rushing touchdowns than Henry, who has notched 38.
General manager Jon Robinson characterized a long-term deal with Henry as one of his top priorities this offseason and regularly called negotiations "positive."
