Derrick Henry was a power Running Back at Alabama, where as a junior, he won the Heisman and led the Crimson Tide to a National Championship. Despite this, there were concerned that his playing style would not be conducive to a long NFL career, and it dropped him to the Second Round, where the Titans took him.
Henry backed up DeMarco Murray as a rookie and sophomore, accumulating over 1,100 Rushing Yards over those two campaigns. He took over as the lead Back in 2019, rushing for 1,059 Yards with 12 Touchdowns, but it was the springboard for what was to come.
Henry won the Rushing Title in 2019 (1,540) with what also a league-leading 16 Rushing Touchdowns. This was not a fluke, as he joined the exclusive 2,000-Yard club (2,027) and breaking his previous record with 17 TDs on the ground. Henry was named the AP Offensive Player of the Year, an appropriate honor for the Titan's workhorse. Had Henry not got injured during the 2021 Season, it is possible that a second Rushing Title and OPOY occured. The year after, Henry was again one of the beasts on the ground, rushing for 1,538 Yards and 13 Touchdowns while adding a third Pro Bowl. Henry played one more season with the Titans where he rushed for 1,167 Yards and went to his fourth Pro Bowl.
The Baltimore Ravens signed Henry afterward, and he left the team with 9,502 Rushing Yards and 90 Touchdowns.
A week before the 2021 NFL Season is to begin, we now know that five-time Pro Bowl Defensive Lineman, Jurrell Casey, will not be among the players. Casey, 31, retired today, after a ten-year career.
Playing his college ball at USC, Casey arrived in the NFL to Tennessee as a Third Round Pick in 2011. Casey became an immediate starter at Right Defensive Tackle, and was arguably robbed of a Pro Bowl in 2013, a year he had a career-high 10.5 Sacks. He would finally get that first Pro Bowl in 2015, which would lead to four more in succession.
A Titan for all but his final year in football, Casey had 51.0 Sacks, all in Tennessee, and was a large part of the Titans defensive turnaround in the 2010s.
Casey, was also known for his philanthropy, and was the winner of two community service awards.
In our most recent updated list of active players based on Hall of Fame potential, Casey was ranked at #80. He will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2026.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Casey the best in his post-playing career.
Very few people had a rookie season like Jevon Kearse.
A First Rounder from Florida where he won the Bowl Alliance National Championship and was an SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Kearse was a beast as a rookie, winning the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, and was also the AFC Defensive Player of the Year. The Defensive End led the NFL in Forced Fumbles (8) and recorded 14.5 Sacks and 15 Tackles for Loss. The sky appeared to be the limit for Kearse, but that wasn't to be.
Kearse, who was a First Team All-Pro as a rookie, was never an All=Pro again, though he was a Pro Bowler in his first three seasons, where he had double-digits in Sacks in all three years. His production did negatively slide in those three years, and it fell when injuries took him out of 12 Games in 2002. After a respectable 2003, Kearse left Tennessee for Philadelphia, but he would never come close to what he accomplished as a rookie.
Kearse returned to Tennessee in 2008, where he played two more seasons before retiring. He would have 52 of his 74 Sacks as a Titan.
Ernest Givins was one of the best returners in the history of Louisville and was also a star Wide Receiver. The Houston Oilers used their Second Round Pick to obtain him, and he would become one of the best Wide Receivers in history.
Givins had 1,062 Receiving Yards as a rookie, which was his career-high. That isn't to say that he considerably regressed, as, over the next five seasons, he had at least 900 Yards in four of them. A crowd favorite for his electric slide touchdown dance, Givins went to the Pro Bowl in both 1990 and 1992, where he had nine and ten Touchdowns. He played with the Titans until 1994 and had one final year with Jacksonville.
As a Titan, Givins had 7,935 Yards with 46 Touchdowns.