Bama fan Josh Jacobs finally teams with Derrick Henry

Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs counts his Alabama fandom back to the days when Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy were toting the football for the Crimson Tide.

Each played three seasons at Alabama, with Richardson running for 3,130 yards and 35 touchdowns while averaging 5.8 yards per carry from 2009 through 2011 and Lacy running for 2,402 yards and 30 touchdowns while averaging 6.8 yards per carry from 2010 through 2012.

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In the season after Lacy’s departure, another Alabama running back admired by Jacobs made his Crimson Tide debut – Derrick Henry. In his final season at Alabama, Henry ran for an SEC record 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2015. He’s gone on to lead the NFL in rushing twice for the Tennessee Titans, including recording one of the league’s 2,000-yard seasons in 2020.

“Just to see Derrick, man, put in the work that he does,” Jacobs told Jim Wyatt, senior writer and editor for the Titans’ official website. “I remember after games, he’d have 25 carries and then go max squat right after the game. Just to see the attention to detail he had and the kind of person he was and what he wanted to accomplish, to see that he’s doing good in the league and one of the best if not the best doing it right now, it’s definitely a huge honor and privilege.”

Jacobs joined Alabama in 2016, part of a trio of backs that replaced Henry, with Jacobs and second-year players Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough combining for 2,416 rushing yards.

Jacobs kept Henry from earning his third NFL rushing crown in 2022 by leading the league with 1,653 yards – 115 more than Henry had this season.

“I’m happy for him,” Henry said. “He had a great year. I’ve been talking to him. He put himself in great position to earn a lot of money. Just happy for him, all the success and always wish him the best.”

Jacobs is headed for free agency if Las Vegas doesn’t re-sign him by March 15 or use its franchise tag on him, so it’s possible Sunday’s Pro Bowl Games were Jacobs’ final time representing the Raiders.

Jacobs and Henry played as teammates for the first time at the Pro Bowl Games. Unfortunately for the NFL’s top two rushers, they got that opportunity just in time for the league to do away with the Pro Bowl game and replace it with a skills competition and three flag-football games that had scarce need for ball-carriers.

The three games had 92 passes and nine rushing attempts. Jacobs was the only player with more than one carry by gaining 17 yards on three rushing attempts. Henry had one carry, but it went for 10 yards and the day’s only rushing touchdown.

Jacobs and Henry were supposed to play as teammates in the Pro Bowl for the 2020 season, but the NFL cancelled that all-star game because of the coronavirus pandemic.

As did Henry, Jacobs won his first NFL rushing title in his fourth season. Henry then won back-to-back crowns and likely would have made it three in a row in 2021, but a broken foot caused him to miss nine games. He still finished ninth in rushing yards for the season.

During those three seasons, Henry averaged 115.5 rushing yards per game. In 2022, when he turned 29 three days before the regular-season finale, Henry averaged 96.1 yards per game.

“I don’t feel like he’s lost a step, man,” Jacobs said about Henry. “Just me paying attention to them, I know that this year that they had a lot of injuries, especially up front, so he had to do a little more and it was a little harder for him. But it don’t look like he lost a step to me, and a guy that massive – I don’t care how old you get, you still got to tackle him.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.