Derrick Henry says he is ‘slow af,’ but the data says otherwise

Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

No, Derrick Henry, you are not ‘slow af’

Derrick Henry is off to a tremendous start this season.

Henry leads the NFL with 873 rushing yards, and his 8 rushing touchdowns also top the league along with Kyren Williams of the Los Angeles Rams. Henry also leads the NFL with an average of 124.7 yards per game, and his three runs of over 40 yards on the year trail only Saquon Barkley in that category.

One of those runs came last night in the Baltimore Ravens’ 41-31 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football. Henry took a handoff from Lamar Jackson toward the left side, following a block from Patrick Ricard, then cut inside of safety Antoine Winfield Jr., and raced into the clear for a huge 81-yard gain:

He was only stopped when cornerback Zyon McCollum — who posted a 40-yard dash of 4.33 at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine — chased him down from the other side of the field.

It seems that fact stuck out in Henry’s mind after the game, when he posted this on social media:

However, Henry’s notion that he is “slow af” is not supported by the data. According to Next Gen Stats Henry reached a top speed of 21.72 miles per hour on the run, the fifth-fastest speed recorded this season, and the third-fastest posted by Henry over his NFL career:

In fact, Henry’s speed on the run Monday night against the Buccaneers topped his speed on an 87-yard touchdown run against the Buffalo Bills from earlier this season:

The only thing that prevented this from being a touchdown? The fact that McCollum hit 21.85 miles per hour as he chased Henry down.

Both players are absolutely not “slow af.”