Running back Derrick Henry opened the Baltimore Ravens’ 2025 NFL season with 169 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries in a 41-40 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
That’s a 9.4-yards-per-carry average after the former Alabama All-American averaged 5.9 yards per carry in the 2024 season, when he totaled 1,921 rushing yards, the 11th-most in one season in NFL history.
In defiance of those statistics, Cleveland Browns safety Grant Delpit answered, “Not hard” when asked during his Thursday press conference how difficult Henry was to bring down.
To a followup question about not being intimidated by “King Henry,” Delpit said: “We’re playing football, man. It’s tackle football. Somebody got the ball, you got to bring them down.”
The Browns and the Ravens square off in an AFC North rivalry game in Week 2 of the NFL season at noon CDT Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OURNFL PAGE
In the Ravens-Browns games last season, Henry ran for 73 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries in Cleveland’s 29-24 victory on Oct. 27 and 138 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries in Baltimore’s 35-10 victory on Jan. 4. Henry averaged 6.8 yards per carry in his first season against the Browns as a division rival.
Henry was asked about Delpit’s remarks in the Ravens’ locker room on Thursday.
“I saw that,” Henry said. “His coach had a tweet – I mean a quote. (Delpit) had a quote. We’ll see on Sunday.”
Henry scored on runs of 30 and 46 yards against Buffalo.
Cleveland defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz was asked on Thursday how the Browns defense could avoid being gashed by Baltimore’s ground game.
“I think here’s the thing: We need to be physical on our defensive line and at our linebacker level,” Schwartz said, “because you have an extremely strong, extremely big running back that can go north-south. And look what happened to Buffalo a few times just giving up those north-south lanes. And you give that guy a head of steam, it’s tough on your defense. So if we’re going a good job playing physical upfront, we’re getting some penetration, we’re not giving him those downhill where he gets his fifth foot in the ground and doesn’t have to change course, that’ll go a long way to stopping the run game. …
“Everybody’s got to be able to tackle. We got to get people to the ball. Our corners have to do a good job tackling off the edge. Defensive linemen, linebackers have to do a good job filling those A and B gaps. It’s going to take a team effort.”
Coach Kevin Stefanski has a 3-1 record when facing Henry since coming to Cleveland in 2020. In those four games – two with the Tennessee Titans and two with Baltimore – Henry ran for 291 yards and three touchdowns on 57 carries.
During his Wednesday press conference, Stefanski was asked about his team’s “success” in defending against Henry.
“Great player,” Stefanski said. “I mean, everybody saw it the other night. He’s a rare combination of size, speed, power, you name it. So again, somebody that we have a tremendous amount of respect for.”
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.