Derrick Henry is inarguably one of the greats college and NFL running backs of all-time. During his time in the NFL, Henry has amassed 10,909 in eight and a half NFL seasons to-date to go along with 103 rushing touchdowns.
At the age of 30 which is ancient for a running back, Henry has himself squarely in the conversation for NFL MVP. Henry has proven time and time again that he defies human anatomy with his on-field play. His workout regiments have been documented throughout the years as some of the most intense of any player at any position, and his performance shows it.
Before his time in the NFL, the Yulee, Florida native spent three seasons with the Alabama Crimson Tide under head coach Nick Saban. Once Henry got his chance as Alabama’s lead back in 2015, his NFL stock took off, as did his chance at winning the Heisman Trophy, which he would indeed do.
In 2015, Henry ran for 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns. This would propel Henry to win the Heisman Trophy with 1,832 total votes to Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey who would finish second with 1,539 total votes. Although McCaffrey finishing second, he is seen by many as one of the biggest Heisman Trophy snubs of all-time, and I do not disagree.
Two reasons Derrick Henry did not deserve to win the Heisman Trophy
McCaffrey was a better all-around player: While Henry’s numbers were stellar, McCaffrey’s were arguably even more impressive as an all-around player. McCaffrey was not only used to run the ball which was Henry’s primary, but he also had the capability to catch the ball out of the backfield more so than Henry as well as being used on kickoff return.
McCaffrey ran for 2,019 yards on the ground, which was only 200 yards less than Henry, while totaling 645 yards receiving, which was 554 more than Henry who only totaled 91 yards out of the backfield receiving. The difference in the eyes of many was Henry’s overall touchdowns which was 28 to McCaffrey’s 13.
While the gameplan was not necessarily for McCaffrey to score a bulk of the touchdowns for the Cardinal as it was for the Crimson Tide, it should not negate the fact that McCaffrey’s on-field production was much more valuable than just as a running back.
And this is not even the kicker. The kicker is McCaffrey’s 1,070 kick return yards which averaged 28.9 yards per return. Henry returned zero kicks for the Crimson Tide, because again it simply was not in the gameplan.
Geography hurt McCaffrey: Another factor that hampers west coast players even today is the fact that McCaffrey played many of his games not in prime time, but rather way past it. By the time the Cardinal kicked off most of their home games and many of their away games in 2015 as a member of the Pac-10 conference, most of the country was sleeping. While many today may not realize it, this is one of the many factors that contributed to the demise of the conference which has seen teams like Stanford, USC, California and UCLA opt to join conferences that are centered on central or eastern time.
This gives their players more television exposure in time slots that are actually viewed by many more throughout the country. This was a luxury McCaffrey did not have, and it was seen in the voting totals against Henry.