Nick Chubb's injury means more to Tennessee Titans' Derrick Henry and running backs everywhere

For once in his life, Derrick Henry felt like everybody else.

The Tennessee Titans' star running back was watching "Monday Night Football," getting an early look at the Cleveland Browns before the two teams battle in Cleveland this Sunday (noon, CBS), when Browns running back Nick Chubb suffered a gruesome knee injury, ending his season less than two weeks in. Henry says his instant reaction was the same as every person who saw the play.

"It was tough to see, especially the type of player he is," Henry said. "You never want things to happen but that comes with the game."

Devastating, career-threatening injuries are part of football, especially for bruising running backs like All-Pros Chubb and Henry, who collect collisions like they're commemorative coins. That's part of the reason why the NFL's best running backs banded together this offseason to fight for their collective cause.

Henry and Chubb were part of a group chat and Zoom call alongside Austin Ekeler, Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey and Josh Jacobs this summer as they search for possibilities of getting running backs bigger and longer-term contracts at a time when Barkley, Jacobs and Dallas Cowboys back Tony Pollard were seeking extensions off the franchise tag and Ekeler had publicly requested a trade.

At the time, Henry and Chubb both spoke about their conclusion: Running back is the only position where players are penalized for succeeding. If a receiver breaks out for 1,500 yards, he's due a massive payday. But if a running back achieves the same level of success, he's told he has taken too many hits and had too big of a workload, so it's a risk to keep him around long term.

Henry's chorus hasn't changed following Chubb's injury.

"All the backs (are) just trying to get out there and showcase our talents and do whatever we can to help our teams win," Henry said. "Doing whatever we can to show our value to each team and those guys are working hard every day. It’s just an unfortunate situation."

Chubb's injury has been the most devastating of the year, but he's not alone. Ekeler missed Week 2 with an ankle injury. Barkley is ruled out for Week 3 with an ankle injury. Baltimore Ravens starter J.K. Dobbins tore his Achilles in Week 1 and is out for the season. Jacobs is healthy, but after holding out for most of the offseason, the NFL's leading rusher in 2022 has 46 yards on 28 carries for the Las Vegas Raiders.

Fulfilling a long-term second contract as a running back is a tough proposition. NFL players are usually due for their second contracts about the time they turn 26. Since 2010, just 47% of running backs who rushed for more than 1,000 yards at age 26 were still in the NFL by the time they turned 30.

By comparison, 79% of receivers who had 1,000 yards at 26 made it to 30, and 82% of the quarterbacks who threw for 3,000-plus yards at age 26 were still starters at 30.

But there's also no disputing how productive running backs are. League-wide last season, running backs accounted for 35% of the touchdowns scored and 33% of the first downs gained. Receivers accounted for 37% of touchdowns and 38% of first downs. But despite producing for their teams at roughly equal clips, the average NFL running back makes about 35% less per year than the average NFL receiver.

"Man, they’re extremely valuable," said Titans offensive tackle Chris Hubbard, who played with Chubb in Cleveland from 2018 to 2022. "You think about it: First, second, third down, you can use them on each down. It’s just like they are needed and they are wanted. For them to come together and try to stick together on that part and making the money and their funds go up, hey look, they need it. Because they are very valuable."

Titans rookie running back Tyjae Spears doesn't know Chubb personally, but he twice has torn his ACL He said a prayer for Chubb immediately after seeing the injury and called it a reminder to be appreciative for everything he has. He doesn't want to talk about league salary dynamics, though. Not until he has proven something in the league beyond his first two games.

Henry already has done that. He's the rare running back who got a long-term second contract with the team that drafted him and he's fighting for a third heading into free agency in 2024.

The group chat still exists; Henry said it was active as recently as Week 2. But in the wake of moments like Chubb's injury, Henry prefers to focus on the human element.

"I talked to him," he said Thursday. "I talked to him and told him I was praying for him. I wished him all the best. He was in good spirits so it made me feel good."

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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans' Derrick Henry points to Nick Chubb why running backs matter