The Baltimore Ravens (9-3) struggled a bit to put points on the board the last time we watched them play a week ago when they defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 20-10 on the road. A win's a win, however, and that one was the sixth in seven games for the Flock.
In Week 12, Lamar Jackson also made history by rushing the rock for enough yardage as for him to break the 5,000-yard barrier career-wise, something he did in Hollywood of all places becoming just the fourth quarterback in NFL history to amass that yardage.
Looking back at what could have been, we already know the Ravens were interested--and in fact, traded for a running back last October. Baltimore had agreed to a trade for Titans' rusher Derrick Henry but Tennessee's owner from the Tennessee Titans vetoed the deal.
Earlier this week, Alex Kay of Bleacher Report wrote a column making some predictions about where pending free agents will land next offseason once they hit the open market.
As Kay researched, Spotrac has Henry's market value estimated at $9.5 million annually, which is definitely a big salary to pay for a running back these days even if they are often the difference-making players in Super Bowl contenders.
The Ravens, who have many free agencies entering the market next spring, will need to make some crucial decisions about how they want to build their roster for the 2024 season and beyond.
In their favor when it comes to potentially signing Henry, however, is the fact that both Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins, the current top-two rushers in the Ravens backfield, could leave via free agency creating the necessary space to sign King Henry.
As Kay sees it, "Henry should look to land with a contending team that can pair him with a younger, more dynamic back to keep his workload down and reduce the wear-and-tear on his body." That fits perfectly with the Ravens' backfield and its future at the position following the sudden emergence of undrafted rookie Keaton Mitchell as a bonafide wunderkind and playmaker.
Kay predicts that the Ravens will ultimately end up signing Henry next offseason, although his demands would be the make-or-break point of discussions between both sides.
The Ravens could re-sign any of Dobbins/Edwards perhaps to team-friendly deals, move on with Justice Hill and Mitchell, and also keep Lamar Jackson running the rock as many times as they want, as that's clearly proved a winning formula this season.
We're going to keep hearing more and more rumors about Derrick Henry as we get closer to February and March, and that the Ravens, as long as they don't address their backfield in terms of who stays and who goes, will be perenially linked to the current Titans rusher.