Three Derrick Henry Trade Destinations

The Tennessee Titans hired a new GM last month and he only took a few weeks to start cleaning house as the team cut longtime left tackle Taylor Lewan along with last offseason’s prize addition, Robert Woods. Neither move was a surprise as the Titans attempt to retool on the fly and save themselves some money.

But it does make one wonder if it’s a sign of things to come. The Titans are not in a position to win a Super Bowl right now. They are in a weak division that will feature two rookie QBs next year, sure, but Ryan Tannehill is not keeping up with the Patrick Mahomes of the world and the defense is not nearly talented enough to carry a weak offense. These are not problems that will fix themselves with good coaching and drafting anytime soon, either.

What if these moves are the preface to a total teardown for Tennessee? The natural next move would be to trade Derrick Henry. Henry still produces at an excellent clip but is no longer capable of powering a roster to the playoffs on his own and the Titans could save $7 million by trading him. He is effectively in the last year of his deal; there would be great interest in acquiring a top-five running back on an expiring contract. The San Francisco 49ers’ midseason acquisition of Christian McCaffrey proved a great running back can still be part of a winning team in the right hands, no matter how much they are paid.

If the Titans did throw Henry on the trading block, who might pursue the NFL‘s multi-time rushing leader?

A logical choice. The Falcons did not have a good rushing attack last year (although their young guns showed flashes of talent after Cordarrelle Patterson got hurt) and current head coach/former Titans OC Arthur Smith knows better than anyone on the planet how to best utilize King Henry. Atlanta also has more than enough cap space to absorb Henry’s $16 million cap hit and still make additional moves this offseason. Whether or not the Falcons would be interested largely depends on how they want to solve their quarterback problem. But if they roll with Desmond Ridder again or move up to take a QB in the draft, getting Henry to take the pressure off would be a smart move.

The Bears have nearly $100 million in cap space heading into the offseason, by far the most in the NFL, and David Montgomery is hitting free agency. Their No. 1 priority over the next few months is to make Justin Fields’ life as easy as possible. Grabbing a back like Henry would certainly accomplish that and still leave them an absurd amount of money to work with. Chicago seems to prefer Khalil Herbert in a complementary role so they can keep him in that spot while upgrading on Montgomery. They could definitely do worse than leaning entirely into the ground-and-pound offense with Fields at the helm.

Giants fans enjoyed a postseason win for the first time in over a decade thanks to the power of a strong run game that complements Daniel Jones in every way possible. The man largely responsible for that, Saquon Barkley, is likely to hit the open market and may price himself out of what New York can afford to keep him. If that happens, Brian Daboll would surely love to get Henry as a replacement. He is one of the few running backs who can be at the center of an offense like Barkley was last year, only better. The Giants should have enough money to absorb his contract no matter what happens with Jones’ contract negotiations. Henry would let them keep the same formula that drove them to the playoffs, and his expiring contract lets them easily plan for life afterwards. If Barkley does not re-sign with Big Blue they’d make a ton of sense for Henry.