Trade Derrick Henry? It'd make sense for Tennessee Titans were it not for one thing |Estes

This stopped being about Kevin Byard on Monday. By now, it’s a matter of who’s next.

And so there was Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry, in all his majesty, standing at a podium on Tuesday, answering questions better suited for a commoner.

Trade King Henry? Are you mad?

Would’ve been heresy in the heady times of 2020 and 2021. But, alas, this is 2023. And Henry’s Titans aren’t any good. Last season’s finish stunk. This one has already gone awry, and the franchise is staring at a reset button with a week until the NFL’s Oct. 31 trade deadline.

Coach Mike Vrabel was asked Tuesday, in the wake of Byard's trade to the Philadelphia Eagles, if the Titans were open for business. Vrabel didn’t say no. Hinted at the opposite, in fact, saying he and general manager Ran Carthon “will always look at opportunities to strengthen" the team and that “we’re trying to look at what (limited) draft capital we have and try to come up with a solution for it.”

Asked Tuesday about the juxtaposition of trying to strengthen a team by trading away one of its best players in Byard, Vrabel’s response was refreshingly real about the Titans’ predicament.

“You can’t have it both ways,” he said.

Like it or hate it, Titans fans, but that’s a for-sale sign in the window.

I’d imagine Henry has noticed it, too.

“Until I’m told different,” Henry said Tuesday, “I’m focused on winning and beating the (Atlanta) Falcons. … I’m here. I’m here at work, ready to go practice and focus on beating the Falcons.”

Good luck with that, beating the Falcons.

Good luck to Vrabel in attempting to unite and keep focus in a locker room full of players who might be wondering whether they’ll be working with real estate agents this time next week.

“The sense is overwhelmingly that everyone (on the Titans) really is available,” said NFL insider Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report in a video posted to social media. “That really starts with Derrick Henry and DeAndre Hopkins. … It wouldn’t surprise me if Henry were moved.”

For what it’s worth, Henry doesn’t sound as though he'd wish to be traded. When asked Tuesday about whether he’d want to go play for a Super Bowl contender, he sharpened his glare: “Have I said anything like that?”

“I’m going to believe in myself if nobody does,” Henry went on to say. “I’m confident in myself. … That’s how I’ve always been.”

Good luck to Henry, though, in trying to ignore the trade noise.

The Titans’ star is being mentioned everywhere. He’s being linked to Baltimore or Cleveland or Buffalo or Dallas or fill-in-the-blank-with-another contender. There isn't a bigger name available at this year's trade deadline. Fans across the league are dreaming up visions of Henry stiff-arming defenders in their team’s uniform.

It’d make Titans fans sick, of course. Nothing would rip out a city’s heart like Henry being shipped to a play for someone else (especially the Ravens).

I hate to say it, and Titans fans won’t want to hear it, but it’d make sense.

You see why the Titans, who have promising rookie Tyjae Spears, would want to get something now for Henry before getting zilch if they don't re-sign him after the season.

The question, honestly, isn’t whether the Titans would actually trade Henry. I believe they would.

It’s whether they could get anything substantial in return for him.

Henry will be 30 by season’s end. He’s in his final year of a four-year, $50 million contract that – while it probably hasn’t paid him enough for what he’s meant to the Titans during that stretch – is too rich for a league that’s devaluing running backs to the point of it becoming a national labor debate.

Would it be worth, say, a sixth-round pick for the Titans to trade the face of their franchise and deeply wound their fanbase?

“There's a business side of this, and sometimes you have to make tough decisions,” Vrabel said of the Byard move. “Certainly, (this) was one of them.”

If the Titans thought trading Byard was tough, just wait and see what it feels like to move No. 22.

That price had better be worth it.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Derrick Henry trade makes sense for Tennessee Titans — minus one thing