Derrick Henry suffered a foot injury back in October that required surgery. He has not played another down since, but the Tennessee Titans activated him to return from injured reserve (IR) before their Week 18 game. Even though he did not play in the season finale, the expectation has always been that he will suit up for his triumphant return in the playoffs. After a first-round bye, the Titans will host the Cincinnati Bengals this weekend. Will Henry play, or will complications with his injury keep him sidelined?
Derrick Henry Injury Update
Henry was placed on IR at the beginning of November with a Jones fracture after a win against the Indianapolis Colts. This type of injury is a break between the base and the shaft of the fifth metatarsal bone of the foot. According to Heathline.com, the recovery time on a Jones fracture is around seven weeks. If Henry returns in the Divisional Round, it will have been 12 weeks since he suffered his injury.
Henry practiced for the first time last week, and the Titans made no indication that there were complications with his return. Even though he wasn’t activated for Week 18, that was more precautionary than anything else. The team was already in a good spot to win the first seed in the AFC.
According to NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe, head coach Mike Vrabel says that this would be a big week of practice for Henry to get acclimated. They want him to get used to running a lot of blocking schemes. Wolfe also said that no official decision has been made yet on Henry’s status or workload.
Although that is far from definitive, it gives a good understanding of the Titans’ mindset — they want to be careful with their star RB.
Will the Titans be able to run the ball against Cincinnati?
When discussing Henry, Vrabel also added that whether he plays or not, they are going to run the ball a lot because that is “who we are.”
“We’re going to need to run the football,” Vrabel said. “We’re going to need to do that to be who we are and to be at our best and not be one-dimensional. To be able to run it to set up things to be able to run our offense. That’s always been critical.”
What does that mean against Cincinnati? Well, if this were the regular season, that plan might not be the best. The Bengals had the seventh-best run defense in the league, allowing only 102.5 yards per game.
However, the Bengals’ defense fell off a sharp cliff leading up to the playoffs. They went from a nearly top-five run defense to bottom of the league, only above the Falcons and Jaguars. In addition to this, after a tough game against the Raiders in the Wild Card round, the Bengals lost a key piece on their defensive line in Larry Ogunjobi. Other guys like Trey Hendrickson and Mike Daniels are also dealing with injuries.
What was Henry able to accomplish in 2021?
The NFL’s reigning Offensive Player of the Year had 219 carries for 937 yards. He added 10 touchdowns in the eight games he played this season. In his absence, there was a revolving door of backs being used throughout the season. However, D’Onta Foreman emerged as the primary option. He has rushed 133 times for 566 yards and 3 TDs in nine games.
As practice continues this week heading into this Divisional Round matchup, Henry’s availability should continue to become clear. Whether or not you can trust him after nearly 12 weeks of rust is a completely different question. Either way, the Titans will run the ball, and the opportunity will be there against this Bengals defense.