Austin Ekeler deal is noteworthy for Tennessee Titans, Derrick Henry

How do Derrick Henry and Austin Ekeler compare?

Derrick Henry was a behemoth in the playoffs this season and has shown that he can be dominant late in the season at a consistent level.

With that in mind, it is easy to forget that before November 2019, Derrick Henry only had 100+ rushing yards in 5 of his previous 56 games despite getting over 650 attempts in those games.

So when you think of the sample size on Henry’s dominance it really only goes back to December 2018 and even then you have to admit that there is a pretty big disparity between that version of Derrick Henry and what we saw in the nine games between those winter breakouts.

Even with that sort of context, it is still hard to assume that anyone is going to compare to Henry who led the league in rushing in 2019. Except…Ekeler led running backs in receiving yards with nearly 1,000 yards.

All in all, when you look at yards from scrimmage Derrick Henry had the 4th highest total among running backs with 1,746 and Ekeler was 9th with 1,550.

Normally that would favor Henry, but Ekeler put up his numbers with just 224 touches, nearly 100 fewer than Henry’s 321.

So when the team needed him Derrick Henry put the Titans on his back and dictated the pace of the offense. However, Austin Ekeler helped his offense out in a different way and while he may not have been a workhorse, he was definitely one of the most efficient backs in the NFL.