Derrick Henry may have the greatest total football career of any player ever and it never gets talked about.
In high school, he rushed for 12,124 yards (most by a high school player ever) and 153 rushing TDs (5th most ever, which is crazy to imagine 4 guys have scored more than that). He did all this playing high school football in Florida no less, one of the best football states in the country. His senior year, he set a state-record 4,261 yards and 55 touchdowns. In four years, he averaged 252.6 YPG, 8.7 YPA, and never rushed for fewer than 100 yards in a game. He was a High School All-American, a 5 Star recruit, and ranked the No. 1 athlete in the nation in 2013.
He went on to play for the Nick Saban coached Alabama Crimson Tide, which is the greatest college football dynasty of all-time. As a junior, he set the SEC rushing yards and TDs record and led the country in rushing yards and TDs. He won the Heisman Trophy, the Doak Walker award (best running back), the Maxwell Award (best player), Walter Camp Award (also best player), was a unanimous All-American, SEC OPOY, and led the Tide to the National Championship. He ranks 2nd all time in rushing yards and TDs in Bama history.
His NFL career is still going, but so far he’s rushed for 1,000+ yards 5 times, 2000 yards once, 10+ TDs 6 times, and led the league in rushing yards and TDs twice. He is a 4-time Pro Bowler, 2-time All-Pro, and was the 2020 OPOY. He is 13th all-time in rushing TDs and has the most career games with 200+ rushing yards.
He is one of the few players to be a high school All-American, college All-American, and NFL All-Pro. He is the only player to have 2,000 yard rushing seasons in high school, college, and the NFL. Any way you cut it, he has had an absolutely insane career and I can’t think of a football player who has utterly dominated from high school to the pros as much as he has.
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