Derrick Henry has been fantastic for the Baltimore Ravens in 2024. They got a big RB upgrade in adding him, and he got a big supporting cast upgrade in joining their squad.

With one game left on their schedule, Henry is facing down the opportunity to do something no other player in NFL history has ever accomplished: multiple 2000+ yard rushing seasons.

If he pulls it off, his already legendary status is cemented forever, and he’s a lock 1st ballot Hall of Famer. But the work he has left to do to reach the coveted 2k milestone is far from easy.

Henry needs to run for 217 yards against the Browns in Week 18 to eclipse 2000. That sounds like an impossible task for most everybody besides Derrick Henry, and even for him it’s a tall order. But when we look at his history at the end of seasons, it seems more attainable a goal than one might think.

2020 was Henry’s first 2000 yard rushing season, making him the eighth player ever to do so. That year, he actually entered Week 18 needing more yards than he does this time! Facing down the division-rival Houston Texans, Henry needed 223 yards on the ground. And on a massive workload of 34 carries, he hung 250 on Houston that day.

Everybody knows December is actually D-Henber whenever Derrick Henry is playing. His reputation as an end of the season menace precedes him. But let’s actually look at the numbers he’s put up in December and January since 2018, when he broke out as the Titans bellcow back.

Henry has played 29 games since the 2018 season in December and January. In those games, he’s averaged 20.2 carries and 114.5ypg. That’s a big fat number, but not enough to vault him past the 2k mark.

In final games of the year, however, Henry is statistically at his best. In his past 6 final regular season games, he’s averaged 26.3 carries for 160.5ypg. That’s absurd, but still not enough.

So how many times has he logged 200+ yards at the end of the year? Well, he’s gone for 200+ 4 times in 29 games in December and January. But in final games of the year, he’s 2 of 6 reaching the 200+ mark.

against Cleveland, he’s going to try to make that 3 of 7. The Browns run defense is getting-able, allowed 127.4 rushing yards per game this year. They’ve allowed a team to rush for 200+ twice.

I’d imagine most NFL fans are rooting for a Henry volume-performance against the Browns, because witnessing this history would be fun no matter who you are. We’ll see if the King has it in him to do the impossible next week.