Would the Tennessee Titans trade Derrick Henry?

In his 60 games since the start of the 2019 season, Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry produced 6,590 yards and 59 touchdowns on 1,370 rushing attempts.

Henry recorded the 13th span of 60 games in which an NFL running back has reached those three numbers in the league’s AFC/NFC era.

The other 12 were achieved by Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis. Ten started during consecutive games during the 1995 season. The other two started on successive Sundays in the 1996.

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For both players, their 60-game spans included a 2,000-yard rushing season – two of the eight in NFL history.

After the final of his 60-game periods ended on Sept. 24, 2000, Davis had 12 games remaining in his NFL career, closing with another 949 yards and two touchdowns on 226 carries.

Davis’ career ended after seven seasons, done in by knee injuries. He was 30 years old when he played his last game.

Henry has played seven NFL seasons. He’ll turn 30 years old in the final days of the 2023 regular season.

But Henry isn’t hobbling into his eighth season after finishing as the runner-up to another former Alabama ball-carrier, Josh Jacobs of the Las Vegas Raiders, for the NFL rushing crown in 2022.

Because of that, is now the right time for the Titans to explore trading Henry – while he holds value and before Tennessee has to decide how to deal with his potential free agency after the 2023 season?

That was a topic in some NFL news circles on Monday after San Francisco Chronicle columnist Michael Silver reported for Bally Sports that the Titans had tried to find teams interested in obtaining Henry.

“Trade talk was rampant at the combine,” Silver wrote. “According to my sources — all of them current general managers — Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry, Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Arizona Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins are among the players who’ve been shopped in recent days.”

If Tennessee is shopping Henry, the team’s leaders didn’t say anything about it during their public appearances at the NFL Scouting Combine. New general manager Ran Carthon held a press conference with the national media, fielded questions from Nashville media and a sat down for a recorded interview with the Titans’ media team and didn’t mention Henry’s name. Neither did new offensive coordinator Tim Kelly in talking to the local and team media. Coach Mike Vrabel did local and team media on-camera interviews, too. They didn’t talk about Henry – at least, not by name – in those sessions.

Carthon joined Tennessee this offseason after working as the San Francisco 49ers’ director of player personnel. On one hand, he talked as though he would trade Henry tomorrow, then made the workhorse back sound essential to the Titans’ championship chances.

“The game of football is changing, it’s evolving,” Carthon said during his combine press conference. “There’s no more real old school. Hate to keep going back to the San Francisco days, but we got to a point on our offense where we were playing positionless football. We had a player like (wide receiver) Deebo (Samuel) you move around. (Running back) Christian (McCaffrey), you move around. Even for George Kittle for the things he can do at the tight-end position, so you got to be ever-evolving in your process and not set yourself in boxes. …

“I’ve always said, and it’s my own personal philosophy, it’s cute, it’s sexy to play Golden State Warriors football in September and October when the weather’s good. But the teams that are playing in January and in February are teams that play tough defense and teams that are able to run the ball, and so you got to be able to do those things.”

Vrabel fired Todd Downing, Tennessee’s offensive coordinator the past two seasons, on Jan. 9. About a month later, Vrabel announced the promotion of Kelly into the position. A former offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans, Kelly worked as the Titans’ passing-game coordinator in 2022.

Kelly outlined his offensive approach during a combine interview without saying anything about feeding Henry carries, although he said the offense would play the way Vrabel wants, which might be the same thing.

“Any time we take the field, we want to be able to score as many points as possible,” Kelly said. “Obviously, that’s one. Two is making sure that we’re playing the game the way that coach Vrabel wants us to play it. It’s not just an offense vs. an offense, it’s a team sport, so there’s certain times we’re going to have to play the game a certain way to put ourselves in position to win it, so making sure that we’re doing that. And then again, just want to continue to be versatile in how we try to attack teams. Want to be able to attack people vertically. Want to make them defend every blade of grass on every snap as many times as we can. For us, that’s going to be the big thing here moving forward as we get going here and just continuing to find different ways to stretch the defense.”

In his past three full seasons, Henry has led the NFL in rushing attempts, topping 300 in each campaign. Fifteen players have had at least 300 rushing attempts in a season in which they turned 30 or older.

Carthon was asked at the combine about Tennessee’s depth at running back.

In addition to Henry, the Titans have three other running backs under contract for the 2023 season – Julius Chestnut, Hassan Haskins and Jonathan Ward. They have combined for 48 rushing attempts in their NFL careers.

In the 2022 season, Henry had 349 rushing attempts. Haskins had the second-most among Tennessee’s running backs with 25.

“That’s a position that you want to continue to grow at,” Carthon said. “Haskins and those guys, they just need opportunities to prove who they are and what they’re worth, and I think those guys are talented. Again, running back is one of those positions you’ve got to get touches to kind of show who you are and what you can do, so I don’t think it’s fair to say we don’t have a one-two punch. It’s just those guys need more opportunities.”

About trades, Carthon said: “We’re always open for business. All the guys, you got my number. Call me.” But he had been asked about the Titans’ first pick at No. 11 in the 2023 NFL Draft when he said that.

“It’s always about just being open to try to continue to add value,” Carthon said, “and so we’ll listen and field every call and kind of see what comes from it.”

Henry is entering the final season of a four-year, $50 million contract extension. Although six running backs are due more pay in 2023 than Henry’s $10.5 million, he’ll count $16.368 million against the Titans’ salary cap, the second-highest figure for a running back in the NFL.

If the Titans traded Henry, the salary-cap savings would be about $6.265 million.

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