Titans running back Derrick Henry closed the 2019 season on a hot streak and he picked up where he left off in the team’s opener against the Broncos.
Henry posted at least 100 rushing yards for the eighth time in his last 10 games and he did it while getting the ball 31 times over the course of the evening. That’s the fourth-most carries he’s had in a game since entering the NFL and comes after a year that saw Henry lead the league in carries.
That kind of workload might lead some to wonder if Henry will get worn down, but it’s not a concern for Titans head coach Mike Vrabel.
“We felt like that’s where Derrick was at physically, condition-wise,” Vrabel said, via the team’s website. “That [number] may change each and every week but Derrick is not going to be on any pitch count. He gets himself in great condition and he understands the responsibility he has to the team to be able to sometimes carry it as many times as he did on Monday night. Every game is different.”
It’s unlikely that the Titans would have given Henry an extension in July if they had questions about his ability to keep up with this kind of workload and it’s hard to see their opinion changing as long as Henry remains in the kind of groove he’s been in for most of the last 12 months.