The Facts: "He's a big back who takes too much punishment, and soon, all the hits are going to slow him down." Eddie George heard it during his playing career in the NFL, and now he hears the same comments about Henry just five years into his career. As it relates to Henry, George isn't buying it. At least not now. "Here's the thing, and people have to understand this: Derrick is not getting beat up like people think he is," George said. "He's getting the carries, the volume. But it is not nearly as violent as when I played, or when Terrell Davis played."
Diehards Line:"Henry has two receivers who had right at 1,000 yards each, and he had a quarterback who threw for nearly 4,000 yards," George continued. "So that being said, there is a great deal of balance, and all the pressure is not on him to make all the plays and be the entire offense. There's a difference. ... So, I don't buy into the theory that he is getting the hell beat out of him by looking at all the carries he has. It is the quality of carries, and he is not getting bludgeoned, he is not getting beat up in between the tackles." Henry, named the Offensive Player of the Year at NFL Honors over the weekend, led the NFL and set a franchise record with 2,027 rushing yards in 2020. In five NFL seasons, Henry has carried the ball 1,182 times for 5,860 rushing yards with 55 touchdowns and a 5.0-yard average per carry. Henry carried the ball 378 times in 2020, a year after rushing for a league-best 1,540 yards and 16 touchdowns on 303 carries in 2019. While Henry has two 300-yard carries so far in his career, George had eight 300-carry seasons, including a 403-carry season in 2000. In Henry's first three NFL seasons he carried the ball 110, 176 and 215 times, respectively. The key for Henry now, George said, is "a level of consistency."