From five Pro Bowls to two rushing titles to an Offensive Player of the Year award, Derrick Henry has done just about everything an NFL running back can do. One thing he hasn’t done is earn an acting credit by appearing in a movie, but that could change shortly.
The future Hall of Famer has an arrangement with actor Adam Sandler to appear in one of the comedian’s movies if Henry reaches 2,000 rushing yards in the 2025 season. It happens to be a milestone that Henry has previously reached.
The deal came via sportscaster Dan Patrick, who acted as an intermediary. Appearing on “The Dan Patrick Show” on Tuesday, Henry mentioned that he’s a big fan of Sandler and would love to meet him one day. Patrick then told the Baltimore Ravens that if he rushed for 2,000 yards, he’d persuade Sandler to cast Henry in a movie.
Two days later, while Henry was on the Ravens’ practice field during organized team activities, Baltimore’s VP of communications, Chad Steele, handed him a phone. On the other end was Sandler, who confirmed Patrick’s promise to get him in a movie.
Only nine men in NFL history, including Henry, have rushed for 2,000 yards in a season. In 2020, while with the Tennessee Titans, Henry ran for a league-leading 2,027 yards, and also finished first in rushing attempts, rushing touchdowns, total touches and yards from scrimmage. Henry was named Offensive Player of the Year and garnered the only First-Team All-Pro selection of his career.
Saquon Barkley is the last player to rush for 2,000 yards, which he did last season. The list of 2,000-yard rushers also includes O.J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders, and Adrian Peterson. No player in NFL history has had multiple 2,000-yard rushing seasons, which is what Henry would have to do.
King Henry, as he’s nicknamed, came the closest to multiple 2,000-yard seasons just last year in his first season in Baltimore. He rushed for 1,921 yards, the second-most of his career, and ranked second in the league to Barkley. It was the 11th-highest single-season total in NFL history. None of the other members of the 2,000-yard club had ever topped 1,821 yards in an ensuing season, prior to Henry in 2024.
Also working against Henry is his age. He will turn 32 on the day of Baltimore’s Week 18 game in January 2026. Last year, Henry set the record for most rushing yards by any player at least 30 years old, while the record for most rushing yards by a player 31 or older is 1,697 by Curtis Martin in 2004. Tiki Barber (1,662 in 2006) and Walter Payton (1,551 in 1985) are the only other players to top 1,500 rushing yards at 31 or older.
Several all-time greats at the position—such as Simpson, Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, and LaDainian Tomlinson—never even reached 2,000 total rushing yards after the age of 30, much less doing it in a single season.
Henry has a chance to become the latest athlete to appear in a movie with Sandler, a New York native who is known as a huge sports fan and is often sitting courtside at Knicks games. Kevin Garnett had a starring role in his movie, “Uncut Gems,” while Anthony Edwards was among several NBA players to appear in Sandler’s film “Hustle.”
Additionally, the sequel to “Happy Gilmore” will be released in July, and it will feature Travis Kelce, Reggie Bush, and a host of golfers, including Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Bryson DeChambeau, among many others. Sandler and Henry’s go-between, Patrick, will also appear in the movie.
From other films such as “The Waterboy,” “Benchwarmers,” and “The Longest Yard,” Sandler’s affinity for sports is clear. Henry could become the latest athlete to work with him, but he has a 2,000-yard job to do first.
