Derrick Henry won't look too far ahead into future after extension with Ravens

Superstar running back Derrick Henry has been in the NFL ever since the Tennessee Titans selected him in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft.

He's put a ton of tough miles on his body, and he'll turn 32 toward the end of the 2025 NFL season. The Baltimore Ravens want him around for the next few years, though, as they look to finally win a Super Bowl in the Lamar Jackson era.

The Ravens recently gave Henry a two-year, $30 million extension that will keep him in Baltimore through the 2027 season.

Depending on how things look after two more seasons in Baltimore, Henry could decide to call it quits and wait for his Hall of Fame induction, but he's a superb athlete and could hypothetically keep playing past this next contract.

On Monday, the day he signed the contract, he declined to say whether or not there will be another deal after this one, though. Right now, he's keeping his focus granular.

"I think it's just focus on this year and then focus to continue to get better year after year that I'm here -- that's always going to be my focus," Henry said, according to Jamison Hensley of ESPN. "I love football, I love playing. I know people look at my age, but I don't really try to focus on that. I just focus on, 'How can Derrick Henry be better, how can Derrick Henry help the Ravens get to where they want to get to?'"

In Henry's first season with the Ravens, he rushed 325 times for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns, averaging 5.9 yards per carry. 

The conventional wisdom with running backs is that you shouldn't pay them after 30, but Henry has never once shown signs of slowing down. The 2024 season was his third 1,000-plus yard season in a row, and the 16 touchdowns he scored were tied for the second most in his legendary career.

If there's a running back who'd be worth it at 33 years old, it would be Henry. That, of course, depends on how these next two seasons go, but he's a tough running back to bet against.