At 6-foot-3, 252 pounds, Derrick Henry is the biggest running back in the NFL, and he’s put that size to use throughout his career. Henry is known to run both by and through would-be tacklers as he’s built more like a tight end or a linebacker than a running back.
Yet, Cleveland Browns safety Grant Delpit doesn’t see much of a challenge in bringing down Henry when he has the ball. Even after Henry has rushed for 11,592 yards and 108 touchdowns—most among active players—Delpit minimized the running back’s physical prowess recently when asked how hard it is to tackle him.
“Not hard,” Delpit responded to the inquiry from a media member on Thursday.
Delpit’s comment came in the week leading up to the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns renewing their divisional rivalry on Sunday, with both teams coming off Week 1 defeats.
Delpit, who checks in at 6-foot-3, 208 pounds, didn’t just flippantly make the comment to provide bulletin board material—he went viral last season for a big hit on Henry. Delpit hammered Henry to the side while Browns cornerback Denzel Ward went low, which upended the massive running back. Delpit then punctuated the tackle with the “too small” celebration, so that play has him feeling mighty confident about his ability to bring Henry down on Sunday.
The ”not hard” quote made its way to the Ravens’ locker room and to Henry. He didn’t have much of a response.
Just last week, Henry showed why he’s destined for the Hall of Fame as he put on a show in Baltimore’s loss to the Buffalo Bills. Henry rushed for 169 yards with touchdown runs of 30 and 46 yards. His longest run was 49 yards. It was his 13th career game with at least 150 rushing yards and two touchdowns, which tied Jim Brown for the most in NFL history.
The Browns also know firsthand how hard it is to tackle Henry as he ran wild on Cleveland when he last faced them. In Week 18 last season, a Ravens 35-10 victory, Henry rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 6.9 yards per carry.
That just happened to be the most rushing yards that the Browns allowed to any running back in the 2024 season. In fact, Henry was the only running back to rush for more than 91 yards in a game against the Browns last year.
One man who knows it’s tough to bring down Henry is someone who likely has never even tried to tackle him. That’s Nick Saban, Henry’s coach at Alabama who helped guide the back to winning the Heisman Trophy as Henry led all of college football with 2,219 rushing yards and 28 rushing touchdowns in 2015.
“I don’t even know which Cleveland Browns guy said that,” Saban stated. “But if they had to practice every day against this guy, I guarantee you they‘d be the first one to say, ’I ain’t tackling [him] every day.’ I guarantee it.”
Henry enters Sunday’s game ranked sixth in all-time rushing touchdowns with 108, just two behind Walter Payton. Henry has 113 total touchdowns in his career, tied for 16th in NFL history, and he’s three away from moving into a three-way tie for 14th place alongside Antonio Gates and John Riggins.
Henry’s 11,592 rushing yards ranks 18th all-time, and if he rushes for 1,577 yards this season—a year after going for 1,921 yards—Henry will reach the 13,000-yard plateau and the top 10 in rushing yards in league history.
As for Delpit, he was a two-time All-American and national champion while at LSU but hasn’t experienced the same success in the NFL. He missed his entire rookie season in 2020 due to injury and has played 62 games in his five seasons since then, all with Cleveland. He has six career interceptions and 3.5 sacks but has yet to make a Pro Bowl or play in a playoff game.
