Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry‘s future prospects for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame have become a subject of discussion as he enters the 2025 season. Baltimore coach John Harbaugh recently compared Henry to some of the greatest ball-carriers in league history.
“That’s a tough question,” John Harbaugh said on Tuesday when asked about Henry’s place among the game’s best running backs. “I haven’t done my stack on that yet, but I can, I guess. I am kind of a Jim Brown guy. I’d probably put Jim Brown at the top for me. Barry Sanders, and who else would be on that list? Walter Payton. Oh my gosh, Walter Payton. How do you do it? (Eric) Dickerson. How do you do it? There are so many greats.(…)But in my mind, I think Derrick Henry is in that category. I put him in that category with those guys. And I know he still feels like he has a ton to prove, and I want him to prove a ton because he’s with the Ravens. So he has a long way to go in my mind. He has a lot of work to do. I’m going to let him know that: ‘Let’s get some work done here. Let’s get some yards stacked up over the next few years.’ Then he will be the very best.(…)How about that? Think that’ll motivate him?” Harbaugh said.
Henry, who joined Baltimore after eight seasons with the Tennessee Titans, posted notable numbers during his first year with the Ravens in 2024: 113 rushing yards per game and an average of 5.9 yards per carry across 17 regular-season games. His total of 1,921 rushing yards ranks as the eleventh-highest single-season mark in National Football League history and is also a record for players at least 30 years old.
Statistical analysis from sources like Pro Football Reference’s Hall of Fame Monitor currently rates Henry thirty-eighth among all running backs over the past seventy seasons, placing his score below most running backs enshrined since 1955.
Henry’s career totals stand at 11,423 rushing yards and 106 touchdowns on 2,355 carries—ranking nineteenth all-time in rushing yards and tied for sixth in rushing touchdowns alongside Hall of Famer Jim Brown.
Henry enters this season needing just under nine hundred rushing yards to surpass Brown’s career total and is within reach of entering the National Football League’s all-time top ten for rushing yardage.
The Ravens conclude their preseason schedule against Washington on Saturday but are not expected to feature Henry based on his previous participation patterns.
Baltimore opens its regular season against Buffalo on September 7.
