King Henry just got richer. With just over a week until the start of the 2022 NFL season, the Titans have revised Derrick Henry’s contract to make him the highest-paid running back in the league this season, according to Ian Rapoport. The 28-year-old Pro Bowler was originally due $15 million this season, with a $12 million base salary, but gets a $2 million raise ahead of his seventh NFL season, overtaking the Cowboys‘ Ezekiel Elliott as 2022’s projected top earner at the position.
Elliott will still cost Dallas more overall, counting $18.2 million against the Cowboys’ 2022 salary cap. But Henry, who originally signed a four-year, $50M extension with Tennessee in 2020, will now earn a $14 million salary — the highest at the position this season.
The big man is coming off an injury-shortened 2021 campaign, in which he still approached 1,000 rushing yards and scored 10 touchdowns. Two years removed from a historic 2,000-yard breakout, which also included a league-leading 17 scores, Henry is now fully recovered from the Jones fracture that cost him nine games last year, and figures to remain a centerpiece of the Titans’ offense, especially with star wide receiver A.J. Brown since traded to the Eagles.
Henry’s revised contract still runs through 2023, although he is not guaranteed any money beyond this season. In terms of average annual value, he’s currently the fifth-highest-paid running back in the NFL, behind Christian McCaffrey ($16M), Alvin Kamara ($15M), Elliott ($15M) and Dalvin Cook ($12.6M).
