Ravens RB Derrick Henry’s impact is still to be determined

Not long after the Ravens signed running back Derrick Henry in free agency this offseason, new teammate and All-Pro inside linebacker Roquan Smith said the addition of the four-time Pro Bowl selection would be “scary.”

Coach John Harbaugh, meanwhile, said having Henry would be a “wonderful thing” and that he was looking forward to it. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken added that he was “excited” to see the impact Henry would have “come to fruition.”

After Thursday night’s 27-20 season-opening loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City, it is also something else: to be determined.

Seven months removed from Ravens running backs inexplicably totaling just six carries against in last season’s AFC championship game at M&T Bank Stadium, the rematch with the Chiefs was not much different. Henry toted the ball 13 times — including five on Baltimore’s opening drive and just five in the second half — for 46 yards and a touchdown, with Justice Hill getting the lone other carry by a running back.

Of course, much like the last time the two teams met, Baltimore was behind for most of the game (including trailing by 10 twice in the second half) thus perhaps limiting Henry’s and the running backs’ usage. Quarterback Lamar Jackson was also Baltimore’s most potent runner, with 122 yards on just 16 carries, though only seven of those appeared to be by design as he routinely ad-libbed his way through the Chiefs’ defense.

Still, despite facing a team that last season ranked 15th in rushing yards allowed per game (113.2) and was fourth-worst in yards per attempt allowed (4.5), Henry’s impact in his first game as a Raven after eight seasons with the Tennessee Titans was relatively minimal.

Why? Myriad reasons.

Some of Henry’s struggles to break loose could be pinned on an offensive line in transition with three new starters.

Guards Daniel Faalele and Andrew Vorhees struggled at times and thus were rated poorly by Pro Football Focus with run-blocking grades of 55 and 51, respectively. Veteran tackle Patrick Mekari and rookie right tackle Roger Rosengarten graded even worse at 53.2 and 48.2, respectively.

If there was a bright spot up front, it came unsurprisingly from Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum and former All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley, both of whom graded well on run and pass blocks. But that wasn’t enough.

But that alone can’t explain it away. Last season, the Titans had one of the NFL’s worst offensive lines, and Henry still rushed for 1,162 yards and 12 touchdowns on 280 carries.

Henry’s longest run on Thursday was just 9 yards — courtesy of a rare Faalele pancake of his defender and Linderbaum sealing his man — as he bounced outside on a second-and-4 with just over 5 minutes left in the second quarter to help lead to an eventual field goal try by Justin Tucker (that he missed from 53 yards). And in the second half — a time of the game when Henry’s hulking 6-foot-2, 247-pound frame can wear opponents down — he had just five carries for 13 yards to finish the game with a per-carry average of just 3.54 yards.

It was also that lack of use that played a part in the ho-hum performance.

Henry was on the field for just 37 snaps — 46% of the offensive plays. He did not see the field on Baltimore’s final drive.

With only one timeout because they used two early in the second half, the Ravens ran the ball only twice over their final 11 plays, both scrambles by Jackson.

No matter the situation, it was a big departure from years past. Henry had logged the fifth-most snaps among running backs since entering the league in 2016. And in four of the past five seasons, he was on the field for at least 64% of the Titans’ snaps.

What about how the Ravens deployed their newest offensive playmaker?

In coming from an offense in Tennessee that largely operated with its quarterback under center to one that functions regularly out of the pistol or shotgun, there was some concern about how Jackson and Henry would mesh. As a back who has traditionally built up speed before even taking a handoff and then reaching full flight on the second level of the defense, it was and perhaps remains a concern. How big remains to be seen.

According to Next Gen Stats, Henry’s efficiency — the total distance a player travels on rushing plays as a ball carrier per rushing yards gained — of 4.01 on Thursday night would have ranked him 32nd among qualifying backs last season.

And while Henry was utilized about equally in zone scheme and gap scheme runs, and fairly evenly in terms of play direction, he typically did his best work from 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends, two receivers) and rarely found success when Jackson wasn’t under center. He also had just one receiving target out of the backfield, which fell incomplete.

The Chiefs often schemed to eliminate Henry as well using eight or more defenders in the box nearly 40% of the time, per Next Gen Stats, an uptick of just over 3% from what he saw last season with Tennessee.

History is also not on Henry’s side at this point in his career. Over the past decade, only three backs have had 1,000-yard seasons at age 30 or older (Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore and Raheem Mostert), and he topped 100 yards in a game just four times last year.