Broncos Fill Need, Sign RB Travis Henry

by John Bena on Mar 5, 2007 12:55 PM MST

At last some news! ESPN.com is reporting the Broncos came to terms with former Bills and Titans Running Back Travis Henry on a 5-year deal that will include $12 million in guaranteed coin. Henry, who became a much sought after commodity after the Titans decided to release him instead of paying an $8.3 million roster bonus, was also thought to be pursued by the Raiders and Jets.

Henry doesn't arrive in Denver without his share of risks, however. After being traded from Buffalo to Tennessee Henry was suspended for the first 4 games of the 2005 regular season for violating the league's substnace abuse policy. That means should Henry have another hiccup the running back would be looking at missing an entire year, something the Broncos no doubt to into account with the contract.

If Henry can stay clean off the field there is no denying what he can do on it. In each of the 3 seasons Henry was his team's featured back he eclipsed the 1200 yard mark, with his best season coming in 2002, when the former Tennessee Volunteer rushed for over 1400 yards for the Bills. Last season, Henry beat out Colorado product Chris Brown and rookie LenDale White to be the Titan's #1 back and finished the season with over 1200 yards rushing.

There is no doubt that Travis Henry improves the Broncos running game. There are some off the field concerns the Broncos fans have to worry about, and Shanny proved once again he is not afraid to take a chance. You win some, you lose some in these situations, however, let's hope for the team's sake this is a big win for Denver.

Photo Courtesy of ESPN.com

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Comments

Unimpressed

this is NOT a good move by Denver in an off-season that was showing promise until now. Henry's only positive attribute is his in-game durability, as he's able to take a lot of carries. Let's not confuse this with being able to pound the rock, as his percentage of successful runs was 43%, a ranking of 36th in the NFL. In comparison, Mike Bell had 51% and ranked 11th. Henry's percentage will increase in Denver thanks to the scheme, but this was 10+ million guaranteed on a back that gets his yards as a function of carries, not talent. He does not represent a competitve advantage going forward, and the Broncos would have been better off drafting a John Cornish or Tony Hunt later on day one, as backs that share little upside beyond durability and consistency.

Lastly, Henry might be the oldest 28 year old in the league with the carries he's shouldered, and is no Susie Sunshine in the locker room. Might I add that that he's on the doorstep of a year long suspension?

Henry has been the most overrated running back in the league for some time now. I don't doubt he'll put up good numbers in Denver because he'll get his carries, but he's another selfish back that doesn't make big plays or consistently grinds out tough yardage. At least McGahee had some upside and less tire tread.

Let's hope Kerney and Graham are brought in to counteract this waste of needed cap space.

by ohnokoolaid on Mar 5, 2007 1:43 PM MST reply actions

Percentage of Successful Runs?

Where do you get that stat from and what does it means? I might be in the stoneage as far as football stats are concerned, but I like the YPC number as a measure of an RB's effectiveness. Over his last three seasons as the featured back, he's averaged 1335 yards on 309 carries for a 4.33 YPC. Oh, and he also averaged 10 TDs over that time period.

28 year old Thomas Jones has an incredibly similar number of total career carries and all of this traditional stats over his three years of 240+ carries (the last three in Chicago) are lower than those put up by Henry in the aforementioned range. He clearly wasn't a better option.

In his thre active years in the league, McGahee has posted YPC of 4.0, 3.8 and 3.8. Where his monstrous ego and lofty reputation come from, I don't know. Even though he's three years younger than Jones and Henry AND despite the fact that he "redshirted" his roolkie year in the league, he's only two season's worth of rushes behind those two guys in total carries. Obviously, he's all hype and not hope.

I just compared hanry to those two other high-profile guys that we were rumored to be interested in and I can't help but be glad about who we ended up with. I even forgot to mention the fact that both non-Henry options would have costed us additional draft picks and significant ammounts of money as well. Maybe I'm way off or blinded by traditional stats, but those are my two cents. I'm always open for a civil discussion and I'm willing to be wrong, but I just don't think that I am in this case.

by ejruiz on Mar 5, 2007 5:07 PM MST up reply actions

Looks like

Jones is heading to the Jets with a second round pick for the 37th pick, originally acquired from the Redskins.

Russ
Purple Row

by Russ Oates on Mar 5, 2007 5:26 PM MST up reply actions

And gone...

Are my dreams of Thomas Jones wearing #20 in Denver. I think I am going to keep track of Jones and McGahee as the season goes along in '07.

-TSG www.thesportsguru.com www.milehighreport.com

by John Bena on Mar 5, 2007 5:42 PM MST up reply actions

And

now the Broncos need to pursue a new backup QB as Brad Johnson signed with the Cowboys.

Russ
Purple Row

by Russ Oates on Mar 5, 2007 5:50 PM MST up reply actions

Disappointing....

but for 3.5 million the first year is ALOT more than I would pay my backup...

Anyone but Patrick Ramsey....

-TSG www.thesportsguru.com www.milehighreport.com

by John Bena on Mar 5, 2007 5:59 PM MST up reply actions

Success rate

is a runner's ability to gain the needed yards based on down. A run on first down should get about a third of the needed yardage, something like half the yardage on second down, and then all of the yardage on third and fourth down. Travis Henry's numbers have annually been low in this category. This basically means he's racking up yardage on no hope downs like third and second and long. Your chains movers are in the high 40's and low 50's, Henry has NEVER been that guy. This can also be noted in that he's rarely been a part of a highly successful offense, or team for that matter. Henry's a garbage time runner, racking up his numbers in meaningless situaitons on poor teams. His skill set is not that hard to find, and based on numbers other than raw data (like total yards), Mike Bell should be the better option going forward.

It just made no sense to spend precious cap space on an overrated runner. I'd rather overdraft Jon Cornish or Tony Hunt, who could be similar if not superior runners.

by ohnokoolaid on Mar 6, 2007 7:19 AM MST up reply actions

They probably..

still will draft a guy like Hunt or Jackson from Nebraska(though even Husker fans arern't extrememly high on him). The risk of a year-long suspension will force the Broncos to continue to add depth.

Maybe a Reuben Droughns if the Browns release him next week, or Mike Anderson if Baltimore re-signs Lewis. But a runner in the draft is a definite possibility.

-TSG www.thesportsguru.com www.milehighreport.com

by John Bena on Mar 6, 2007 7:44 AM MST up reply actions

Glad To See You!!!

I was wondering were my draft expert was!!

As for Henry, I wasn't enamored with Travis or Willis McGahee, and for many of the reasons you stated. McGahee's knees make him a runner that is years older and the injuries are going to catch up with him. I can only hope that Shanny has some sort of stipulation in the contract shouls Henry have another transgression and get booted for a year. I was banging for Thomas Jones, and though Dominic Rhodes could have done a decent job.

Glad to get your input!!

-TSG www.thesportsguru.com www.milehighreport.com

by John Bena on Mar 5, 2007 2:12 PM MST reply actions

I think

Travis Henry is pretty solid.

Arrowhead Pride

by Chris Thorman on Mar 5, 2007 2:30 PM MST reply actions

As long as

he doesn't repeat his 2002 fumble problems (8 of 11 lost), I'll be OK with this. But I doubt we'll see him play out the entire deal. That's probably due in part to my dreams of watching Jonathan Stewart play in a Broncos uniform.

Russ
Purple Row

by Russ Oates on Mar 5, 2007 3:23 PM MST reply actions

Broncos also

signed Paul Smith, a FB/special teams player.

John Clayton just reported on SportsCenter that Daniel Graham should come to a decision tonight, too.

Russ
Purple Row

by Russ Oates on Mar 5, 2007 4:06 PM MST reply actions

Y'all really lucked out.

Yes, Henry is going to face a 1-year suspension the next time, but from everything that Tennessee could find out, he's actually really cleaned up his act. Keep in mind, his suspension in 2005 was actually a result of actions he took while he was still in Buffalo.

Also please note that those 1200 yards took place in only 14 games, and he only started 13. It took until week 5 for him to be the dedicated starter for Tennessee last year.

And the guy above who's spouting about "successful runs" is spewing crap. Travis was a vital part of several of Tennessee's wins last year. Yes, we went 8-8, but we were 8-3 after week 5, when Travis got the starting job.

by hartley on Mar 6, 2007 11:17 PM MST reply actions