CBS: Bucs Should Trade For Derrick Henry
October 18th, 2023
No chance.
This is one of those barroom trades that sounds good after six pints.
Cody Benjamin over at CBS realizes two things about the Bucs that just about every fan realizes: The Bucs want to run the ball yet the Bucs have no one to run the ball. It’s a helluva pickle.
The Bucs are last in the NFL in rushing yards per carry. Again.
The Bucs are currently in first place in the NFC South but the longer they wait to do something about the running back position, the less likely they are to win the division.
Can Baker Mayfield avoid shatting himself consistently like he did on Sunday? Browns and Stinking Panthers fans would argue, no.
Benjamin sees the Titans are going nowhere this year and may want to get out from under the contract of aging running back Derrick Henry. (No one can give Joe a good reason why folks don’t refer to the Titans in the plural tense of the first syllable like people call the Jaguars the “Jags.”)
Benjamin thinks the Bucs are the perfect landing spot.
… … The bulldozing Henry is on an expiring deal for a stumbling Titans franchise half-committed to a rebuild, and he might welcome a sunnier change of scenery before a return to the open market in 2024.
Henry may as well be Barry Sanders when you compare his numbers to current Bucs RB1 Rachaad White. Bonus for the offensive line haters: The beastly Henry can still break tackles.
But here is where the barroom trade blows up. Joe suggests folks may want to look at Henry’s salary. It appears he has $6.8 million of salary remaining this season.
How the Bucs are supposed to fit Henry under the cap would be a nice trick. The only way Tennessee would eat some salary would be if the Bucs overpay for Henry.
Then there is this little nugget: Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht does not like older running backs. There is overwhelming data out there showing the vast majority of backs, no matter how good they are, quickly go downhill when they hit their late 20s.
(Licht just invested in Chase Edmonds, 27. How’d that work out?)
Henry will be 30 before the regular season ends.
Yes, running backs have been productive in their 30s. For every example, there is like a dozen who were expensive stiffs.
So while Henry would be a welcome addition from strictly a pure football standpoint, salary and age scream this is nothing more than a drunken fantasy.
October 18th, 2023 at 12:07 am
This is an article written by an idiot!
October 18th, 2023 at 12:15 am
ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHITE AND SNEAK IS A MAJOR UPGRADE !
October 18th, 2023 at 12:17 am
I would be the ideal running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
I am fast. To give you a reference point, I’m somewhere between a snake and a mongoose.
I have the strength of a sasquatch.
In short, I am better than than any of the Bucs running backs will ever will be.
October 18th, 2023 at 12:18 am
I just believe it maybe too rich for our blood…but this would be maybe the greatest Xmas present from the Bucs to fans this year outside of somehow winning a playoff game
October 18th, 2023 at 12:19 am
Sign Lenny
October 18th, 2023 at 12:20 am
Cost is probably too high…not sure the cap numbers would work without sending money back to Tenn…and it would be a player without deferred money left as that would accelerate to this year. I say sign the best RB on practice squads. We have nothing to lose at this point.
White isn’t suddenly going to become ROJO.
Dude stinks out loud.
October 18th, 2023 at 12:23 am
Why trade for a guy like Derrick Henry when most #2 backs on other teams are are better than anything the Bucs have. The Titans backup Spears and Colts Zach Moss would instantly be the best backs in the team.
Swinging for a guy like Henry is just unnecessary when it’s been proven in todays NFL (except by the Bucs) that good RBs are not hard to find.
October 18th, 2023 at 12:29 am
This. ^^^
October 18th, 2023 at 12:31 am
“White isn’t suddenly going to become ROJO”
I’ve been puzzled by this revisionist history going on about ROJO….seems like many fans have forgotten that there’s a reason the Bucs moved on from Ronald Jones was because he certainly wasn’t anything special.
He’s a below average RB who had 1 statistically decent year in 2020.
October 18th, 2023 at 12:37 am
@tbb – it was extreme sarcasm
October 18th, 2023 at 12:53 am
Mike Greenberg it’s your time to shine!
October 18th, 2023 at 1:23 am
Joe just wants to keep doing the same thing and expect different results.
Some would call that inanity.
The GM should be fired immediately for failing to upgrade our weakest area of the team. He’s been on borrowed time for a while.
We also employ a HC that continues to run the ball despite putrid returns. He also should be canned asap.
Our division lead will be short lived very soon.
October 18th, 2023 at 1:32 am
Where are we going with this? Seriously!
Are we trying to salvage this season by bolstering running game?
I’d rather rebuild from next year’s draft and stay competitive for years to come.
But I’m pretty sure that Bowles thinks otherwise.
Go Bucs!
October 18th, 2023 at 1:42 am
Most guys on practice squads are better than what the Bucs have at RB
October 18th, 2023 at 2:00 am
Yes. They should. Henry is a legit smashmouth hammer capable of carrying an offense for long stretches, and grinding opposing defenses to dust. A threat like Henry helps hide deficient QBs like Tannehill…and Baker Mayfield.
Yes.
IF—the OL is up to it.
IF—Canales overachieves on playcalling.
October 18th, 2023 at 2:10 am
I think as history has shown Jason Light is going to sit on his hands and do nothing. Although he did surprise us that one year and traded the giants a bag of peanuts for JPP
October 18th, 2023 at 2:11 am
Lol, he’s not coming. not even close.
October 18th, 2023 at 2:40 am
if you can get him without giving up too much you do it…
he might be the inside bruiser we need – yet he’s not the same old derrick henry – he’s slightly washed…
and you just get him as a rental…
you figure out the long term rb issue in the offseason…
you get him for just this season, and let white be 3rd down back…
or heck, maybe you let tennessee have white…and give them vaughn as well…
in fact send the entire running back room down to tennessee on a “wide load” truck…give them everyone, including the room!
how oh how did the running back room become such a hot mess…
where is ronnie brown…and is sean tucker now working in the laundry room or something?
October 18th, 2023 at 2:47 am
hard facts:
the qb is not that great…but he’s good
the wide receiver room is no longer an elite crop of cropsters…but they’re good – however it’s not a deep room…one injury to mike or chris and that room looks underwhelming…i expected a little more from palmer already…mike is aging…jarrett doesn’t look sound, like in preseason…thompkins is surviving out there on heart, not size – and that can change with one big hit…
so the season will go down the tubes if the rb room can’t be upgraded – and the clock is starting to tick…
henry as a big up the gut rental is probably just what this team needs…
and boy oh boy would he look cool in pewter and red
October 18th, 2023 at 2:52 am
oh yeah…then there’s always rojo who was the hardest running buc up the gut since alstott
October 18th, 2023 at 3:14 am
There appears to have been a better set of running backs on the free agent list early in the season than the Bucs have. Fournette and Hunt would be a step up from White and FITB.
of course Hunt was already reclaimed by the Browns. Fournette though has to be better than White at this point and anyone can be FITB, including White.
Fill in the blank.
October 18th, 2023 at 4:30 am
Yup Joe
That is pretty much what I have been saying since last season. We don’t have the money to spend and Licht is not gonna spend crazy money and or picks on free agents who may not be of any real help. Chase was relatively cheap and alot younger. He tried.
Can Edmonds make it back for Atlanta?
Go Bucs!
October 18th, 2023 at 4:59 am
That won’t fix Maybefield’s innacuracy issues and inability to stretch the field.
October 18th, 2023 at 5:19 am
BTW Licht has already given Bowles all the toys in the world to play with. Including his own coaching staff per all the folks who wanted him to have “his” team.
If I am Licht, I am not willing to mortgage any more cap or draft capital to get an iffy free agent who may be a temporary fix to an offensive problem that is probably deeper than a RB anyway.
See Peete, Goodwin, Canales, O line, new zone scheme, tight ends who can’t block, One who can, but telegraphs plays because he is in the game (we don’t use him for anything else). Did I miss anything?
Oh yeah…We have failed running at two pretty good defenses. against the second one, White averaged 3.7 yards per carry. With a total of only seven carries. 3.7 isn’t great but it is better than what we had by a long shot.
Go Bucs!
October 18th, 2023 at 6:27 am
Uh , sounds good with no pints. But I get it.
October 18th, 2023 at 7:05 am
Trade for Henry.
Sign Fournette.
And pound the rock!!!
Henry and Fournette rotating series?
Sounds heavenly!
We could run all over teams in the 4th quarter!
October 18th, 2023 at 7:19 am
Because of Henry’s bruising running style, age is much more of a problem than for smaller RBs who are more scatback types. These aren’t the Jim Brown days.
As others have pointed out, a lot of teams’ #2 or even #3 RB would be a solid upgrade over what we currently have.
October 18th, 2023 at 7:21 am
Sorry but Fournetteif trash and you can’t sun the guy who lost his job to the current starter. Henry is a bad ides even if we could afford him. The answer is simple licht needs to draft better. Can’t hit on a running back or a quarterback yet
October 18th, 2023 at 7:41 am
lol
October 18th, 2023 at 8:06 am
At this point if the Bucs are not going to sign another RB which they should, then why not call up what they have on the practice squad? they probably wouldn’t do any worse!
Also the week the Bucs play the Titians, they are the plural tense of the first syllable!
October 18th, 2023 at 8:58 am
This is an easy fix, go get someone from the XFL or CFL, could we really do worse, go get a good Rugby guy
October 18th, 2023 at 9:05 am
4 years ago YES, today. NO. Father Time waits for no player, ask Tom.
October 18th, 2023 at 9:14 am
@teacherman777:
i like what you said…
and maybe we can bring back lorenzo neal to block for them since ko kieft has also been moved to laundry duty
October 18th, 2023 at 9:59 am
Anything better than a 3rd round pick would be a mistake. And only if he signed a new 3 year contract.
October 18th, 2023 at 10:00 am
Anything better than a 3rd round pick would be a mistake. And only if he signed a new 3 year contract.
October 18th, 2023 at 10:00 am
Age is not a problem because of Henrys running style, it’s quite the opposite. It’s the guys that rely on speed that lose a step. Guys like bettis have played at a high level longer into their 30s. Hell Gore was pushing 40 almost when he finally hung it up
October 18th, 2023 at 11:40 am
I think they have to ride out this problem until Sean Tucker can actually be known of. Definitely not putting up Henry money. Licht has good ability at finding good players on the cheap 1 or 2 year deal.
October 18th, 2023 at 11:51 am
The Bucs are still in salary cap hell and need to pay a lot of great players next year. NEW FLASH…Bucs aren’t winning the Super Bowl this year. All the Bucs need to do is sign their own players and have another solid draft. So, stop the press about bring in great players. The Bucs will be challenged to bring back their own best players…next year. Making trades and paying big salaries will only make it worse. I will be very happy if the Bucs can go 11-6 or 10-7 and win down the stretch. They can’t fix their cap problems by spending more money…so please stop trying to fall on a knife.
October 18th, 2023 at 1:28 pm
Would have loved to have Henry 2 or 3 years ago. (Or even 6 years ago lol)
But you can’t trade anything if high real value for a RB at his age, salary cap issues aside.
October 18th, 2023 at 2:16 pm
BRING BACK LOMBARDI LENNY!! He still has speed, power AND good hands. We can get him at a reasonable salary and with our improved O Line play he would be a difference maker.
October 18th, 2023 at 2:24 pm
Trade for Henry? More like trade for stetson Bennett. That’s an investment not just renting a player for the rest of the season. Passing game accuracy you don’t need to run.
October 18th, 2023 at 7:25 pm
Trading for a running isn’t going to make the bucs a superbowl contender they are rebuilding you wait for the draft and continue to build accept it.
October 18th, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Bucs have below par LG and Center, and a rookie RG and Offensive Coordinator. Trading for a 30 year old RB with a cap hit the Bucs can’t afford is only going to add problems, not solve them. What a stupid idea… who comes up with this absurd sh*t?