What Does the Tony Pollard Signing Mean for the Titans and Derrick Henry Going Forward?

After a stellar eight-year career with the Titans, Derrick Henry’s career with the team is most likely over. In his tenure with the team, Henry rushed for 9,502 yards, had 93 total touchdowns, made four Pro Bowls, was selected All-Pro once, and won the 2020 Offensive Player of the Year. Tony Pollard is no slouch either, rushing for 1,005 yards and six touchdowns in his first year as the lead running back for the Cowboys last season. He was also selected to the Pro Bowl in 2021. 

Henry, 29, rushed for 1,167 yards and 12 touchdowns last season. He’s been one of if not the most dominant running backs in the NFL since becoming a full-time starter in 2019. He is one of the biggest free agents still left out there, and there are a lot of teams that are going to be willing to pay him. A team like the Cowboys, who obviously just lost Pollard to the Titans, have been a team linked to Henry even dating back to the trade deadline. The Chargers are another team too, who lost Austin Eckler to the Raiders during the crazy first day of free agency. The Cowboys and Chargers might be the frontrunners for Henry right now, but it’ll be exciting to see where he goes. 

After their final home game last season, Henry stayed on the field for a little while as Titans fans gave him a standing ovation, basically saying goodbye to the city of Tennessee. The Titans are in kind of a weird spot right now. After going an underwhelming 6-11 last season, they don’t seem to be rebuilding right now. Obviously, they’re losing one of the best running backs in the league, but Tony Pollard is a pretty good running back himself. They still have DeAndre Hopkins and signed former Bengals cornerback Chidobe Awuzie not too long after signing Pollard. If they draft a quarterback in the upcoming NFL draft, they might shock a couple of people next season.