ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys needed a running back this offseason after losing Pro Bowler Tony Pollard to the Tennessee Titans in free agency.
Arguably the best running back of the past decade, four-time Pro Bowler Derrick Henry, was available on the open market. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones claimed Sunday the team “couldn’t afford Derrick Henry” because of headspace. That was after 2020 NFL Offensive Player of the Year ran over the Dallas defense to the tune of 151 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries for an eye-popping 6 yards per carry. in a 28-25 Baltimore win.
Henry, 30, signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the Ravens, something the Cowboys could have the cap space for if they re-signed both All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott (four years, $240 million) and All- Because wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (four years, $136 million) in March instead of late August in Lamb’s case and hours before kickoff in Week 1 in Prescott’s case. Henry himself was surprised that the Cowboys showed no interest in him because he trains in downtown Dallas at SandersFit in the offseason.
That’s why Henry’s 12th career game with 150 or more rushing yards and two or more rushing touchdowns, tied for the second-most in NFL history, felt a little more special to the bruised running back at AT&T Stadium in Week 3.
“I hold myself to a high standard,” Henry said postgame on Sunday. “I definitely wanted to come out here and be able to make an impact to give us a chance to win the way I played. I feel like the first couple of weeks I slowed down a little bit. But like I said, we’re all connected, and we all just want to to come out here and execute and be able to win – and we did that today Being in Dallas – this is the offseason [for me and] where I spend most of my time in the off-season. It felt kind of good today for sure.”
Dallas’ running back committee approach led by undrafted veteran Rico Dowdle, late stage Ezekiel Elliott and 2023 sixth-round pick Deuce Vaughn only mustered 51 rushing yards on 16 carries for a paltry 3.2 yards per carry. Needless to say Henry is going back to Baltimore with a smile on his face.
“I don’t know that today I would have shown any position that could have made that difference today,” Jones said postgame on Sunday. “I think overall we had a lot of areas we can play better in. However, we did some good things in the end. Our offense, I thought we would have more, more productivity really in our offense.”
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