How will Derrick Henry handle the franchise tag?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans have ensured Derrick Henry will be on their roster in 2019 by applying a franchise tag to him, Adam Schefter reports.
Now the questions are about how he will handle it.
Second contracts for running backs are their prime chance to earn, and he will want to get his financial security now, coming off a NFL rushing title, or next year at the latest.
The tag ensures him of $10.278 million, but offers no long-term guarantee and provides no money until the first week of the regular season. [Unlocked]
Henry and the team can continue to negotiate toward a long-term contract until July 15. We don't know that the Titans want to, but we do know they can't love the big cap hit.
But of the NFL schedule moves on as usual, his incentive to show up for offseason work starting April 20, for training camp and for preseason games is different than usual.
A serious injury suffered during that stretch can really hurt his leverage moving forward and his absence can show the Titans -- who are likely to draft a back -- just what they will be missing without signing him.
Henry has grown into more of a vocal leader and is constantly spoken of as an ideal teammate, so it will be interesting to see how he weighs those things and the Titans' early work to build a push to get back to the AFC Championship against his business interest.
Teammates often do not hold it against a teammate if he's absent to fight for what he thinks is right contractually. If he holds out it doesn't make him a bad teammate or change his intangibles.
It takes six games for a player to accrue a season. In a worst-case scenario hold out from Henry, he'd need to report to the team for six to fulfill his side of the tagged year. A tag in 2021 would cost the Titans 120 percent of this year's number.
Tags: Tennessee Titans, Derrick Henry