A backup punter wears Ryan Tannehill’s jersey now. Two undrafted rookies strut around with Kevin Byard’s number on their chests. Denico Autry, Delanie Walker, A.J. Brown, Taylor Lewan and Brett Kern have all been replaced on the lineup card by newcomers in 96, 82, 11, 77 and 6.
The Tennessee Titans’ old guard is out, victims of contract squabbles and younger reinforcements and time’s unrelenting march, exchanged for a new regime with new philosophies and new values.
But no one’s wearing No. 22.
Even when he’s not in Nashville, it’s impossible to look at this Titans team and not think about Derrick Henry.
Henry’s in Baltimore working through his first Ravens training camp, trying to assert his franchise-changing power to get the Ravens over the hump as Super Bowl contenders.
Meanwhile at Titans training camp — the first one without Henry since Ravens MVP QB Lamar Jackson was a freshman at Louisville — rookie coach Brian Callahan is reimagining and reinventing the Titans with a pass-first offense. He’s devising a scheme Henry never would’ve made sense in where smaller, shiftier backs Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears will rotate as multi-tools who run, catch and block rather than steel sledgehammers who bully defenses into husks.
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“He’s been gone for a long time,” Titans safety and Nashville native Matthew Jackson said. “That’s just next man up. I know we’ve got great running backs we brought in. They’re honing onto the roles. Yes, we miss him. But it’s just next-man-up mentality.”
So that’s that, right? Henry’s gone, and the Titans are different. No need to talk about him anymore.
Except, no. That is certainly not that. Seven months after Henry played his last game at Nissan Stadium, his No. 22 jersey was still the most popular in the stands during the team’s training camp practice at Nissan last Saturday. There might not be a player wearing No. 22 in practice, but plenty of fans are wearing it stood just off the sidelines.
Henry’s shadow looms. No matter how good Spears and Pollard are or how well Will Levis commands the passing attack or even how productive Henry is in Baltimore, it’ll be impossible to contextualize who the Titans aim to be without considering who they were.
Henry was the face of the Titans. How does a team press on without a face?
“That’s why they call it a team, right?” receiver Mason Kinsey said. “There’s a lot of people that can contribute big or small. You’ve obviously got guys like Jeff (Simmons), got guys like Harold (Landry) and Will, guys that have been here and produced. I think that’s what training camp is about too is finding the identity of your team. I don’t think that necessarily relies on one person.”
Henry has carried 243 more times than any other NFL player since 2018. Pollard, a Pro Bowler in his own right, has touched the ball exactly half as many times in his NFL career as Henry has since 2018.
Henry was the Titans’ Superman, and there was no pretense about hiding it behind a Clark Kent secret identity. Opponents knew the Titans operated through and because of Henry and they still struggled to find his Kryptonite.
Now, to mix superhero metaphors, the Titans don’t have an answer yet for who will show up when the Bat Signal is lit.
“It’s hard to really declare what our identity is when we haven’t found out what works for us, who’s kind of our bell cow or bell cows multiple in terms of who can we hang our hat on,” Titans guard Peter Skoronski said. “I think every good offense has that like we had with Derrick for so long. That’ll just come through more reps, preseason games, a few games into the season.”
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Several Titans interviewed agreed with Skoronski’s assertion that identity discovery might last into the season. And no one seemed to think of this as a bad thing. As Skoronski points out, Henry didn’t show up on Day 1 of his rookie season as a fully-formed future Hall of Famer. Everything in this league takes time, even for the best of the best.
“It happens pretty naturally,” quarterback Malik Willis added about identity development. “It’s not like ‘Hey, we’re going to make it this guy.’ It’s more natural and what the team needs at a certain time.”
Will the Titans be OK without Derrick Henry?
First off, let’s dispel the notion that the Titans will be awful in “clutch” yardage situations without Henry. For his career, Henry converts 76% of his carries on third-and-short for first downs. Pollard converts in 71% of such situations. That’s essentially the difference between going 15-for-20 and 14-for-20. Pollard averages 0.9 yards per carry and 1.4 yards per touch more than Henry in the fourth quarter and is one of just six running backs since 2000 to average more yards per carry than Henry in the red zone (minimum 100 carries).
But Henry isn’t only going to be missed for his bowling-ball tendencies. His presence was just as important off the field as on it. Tight ends coach Justin Outten, the only offensive coach held over from the 2023 staff for 2024, described Henry’s presence as one player who 35 guys could lean on. Running backs coach Randy Jordan says Spears and Pollard’s biggest challenge will be replicating Henry’s leadership.
“I think the biggest thing is TP’s not a guy that’s going to voice his opinion very much,” Jordan said. “Pretty much you watch him like ‘Wow, that guy’s consistent. He works his ass off every day.’ And then Tyjae, Tyjae’s that energy guy. If you’re having a bad day or you need a play to be made, get those jumper cables and just plug them in. He’s going to be that guy. So both of those guys lead in their own different ways.”
Running back Hassan Haskins says Henry will “always be (his) guy.” So much of what he learned about being an NFL running back, he learned from Henry. But he looks around a roster that now features as much receiver talent as the Titans have ever had coupled with Levis, Pollard and Spears and he remains confident a new identity will emerge soon enough.
“He was the face,” Haskins said. “Everybody loved him. But we’ve got more players and more players that are ready to get the ball rolling. We’ve got good players. I’m not worried about anything that we used to have. It’s a new team and we’re just ready to work.”
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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.
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Publish date : 2024-08-13 23:00:00
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