Darrell Henderson is a nightmare.
A breakaway threat with a low center of gravity and downfield receiving chops, the 2019 Rams expected to pair him with Todd Gurley as Sean McVay's long-hoped-for big-play scatback who could do the things that Chris Thompson has done during his stretches of peak health and usage. However, the Rams minimized an important detail while falling in love with Henderson's breakaway game: scheme fit.
Henderson ran a lot of man and gap blocking at Memphis and the Rams based its scheme on wide zone. The difference between the schemes at Memphis and Los Angeles as a running back picking an open crease is the difference between fill-in the blank (gap/man) and multiple-choice (zone). The way you approach both methods of questions are completely different and require a different set of skills.
2019 was a lost season for Henderson because he was slow to acclimate to the wide zone scheme. Chick Corea, one of my favorite musicians, recently posted a video discussing the difference between memorizing and knowing when it comes to musicians learning the harmonic structure of songs.
Corea explains memorizing as consciously recalling the information as if you're reading something written down from a mental page or screen in your brain. Knowing is an ingrained process in your subconscious that you do without thinking—breathing, walking, and eating are basic examples.
Henderson had memorized the wide zone plays but he didn't know how to run them. You could see this with his preseason performances. He was tentative with some reps and made poor choices with others.
Fast-forward to 2020, and Henderson lacked a clear outlook. The Rams rafted Cam Akers in the second round and Akers has the athletic skills and football potential of a feature back. Still, left tackle Andrew Whitworth told the media after the NFL Draft that Henderson has an amazing upside and was excited about seeing his sophomore effort.
This matters to me as an evaluator because it wasn't a coach doing the typical public relations confidence booster to a young player through the media. Whitworth is a team leader and anchor in this offense.
And most important, I've learned more about running back play listening to offensive linemen and middle linebackers than I have from any other position, including running backs. These two positions understand the complete picture of the athletic skills, decision-making, and feel that runners must possess.
Still, Henderson wasn't the focus of buzz from the media covering Rams camp, and without preseason games, there wasn't a chance to see how much progress the second-year runner has made with learning wide zone. Most important, we didn't even know whether the Rams would revert to a sole diet of wide zone, stick solely with gap and man blocking, or use a variety of schemes.
To complicate matters, reserve Malcolm Brown is the team's most accomplished zone runner and a good all-around back who might have been a long-term starter in the league if he had the deep speed that all front offices covet from backs in this role. And after Week 1, we saw Brown show the football public why this statement is true.
Last week, Henderson earned a split after injuries slowed Brown (finger) and Akers (ribs), and he showed exactly what the Rams hoped for when the organization drafted him in 2019. This five-minute RSP NFL Lens video below shows how Henderson has improved his patience as a zone runner, why he has enough skills to have at least limited value between the tackles, and why he could force at least a three-way split with this backfield.
Enjoyed the video? Contact Alex Hanowitz (hanowitz.alex@gmail.com) if you're a football analyst seeking graphics and editing work like this. Additional thanks to Video and Motion Graphics editor Justin Johnson and Assistant Motion Graphics Editor Peter Gumas for their work on this episode.
Henderson's emergence is a fantasy nightmare for many who've invested in Akers and/or Brown because he offers a big-play component that neither has or at least in the case of Akers, to the degree that Henderson has it.
Akers is an excellent receiver and, according to Jared Goff, has the best hands in the receiving game of any running back that he's worked with during his football career. One of the things that I loved about Akers' game was his ability to work open in tight quarters and make tough plays.
However, you're not going to see a lot of these scenarios as a regular part of a running back's targets in an NFL receiving game. Akers also lacks Henderson's acceleration, which means that Henderson is the most desirable downfield weapon from the backfield that the Rams have.
It's also apparent from Week 1 that Akers is decisive with obvious creases, but he didn't show a level of patience and nuance when it came to setting up blockers or dealing with difficult reps that an NFL starter manages on a regular basis. Akers, like Henderson, thrived on a larger diet of gap plays at Florida State. He ran some zone plays but they were the weakest part of his overall game.
How long it takes for Akers to acclimate is the unknown. Based on what we know about Miles Sanders, Darrell Henderson, Tevin Coleman, and others who either inexperienced or weak with this blocking scheme, it took at least a season to develop consistency with this part of the ground game.
It's why I think those of you with Akers on your rosters are at risk to see a significant decline in his 2020 fantasy value. Henderson's performance revealed a more seasoned back with enough versatility with gap, man, and zone blocks to make the ground game more dangerous inside and on the perimeter.
Pair Henderson with Malcolm Brown and you get a nice 1-2 punch. Henderson can be a receiving threat on first and second downs who will let the Rams motion him from the backfield into an empty set that spreads the field and forces opponents to declare its coverage. If the coverage on Henderson is a linebacker or safety, he'll be the primary target.
Brown offers the third-down and two-minute component of a back who can earn tough yards between the tackles and a combination of reliable and assignment-sound pass protection that can transition into the check-down game as needed. Both Brown and Henderson are competent screen options and Henderson showed enough skill to get "hard yards" in limited time above that the Rams can mix and match this pair while remaining less predictable to opponents.
Henderson's big-play component is a nightmare for opponents and his current level of development and skillsets could be a nightmare for those depending on Akers, and to a lesser extent, Brown. The ultimate nightmare is that he caps Akers' and Brown's upsides as part of a three-way committee and makes their usage far less predictable.
A manageable nightmare is Henderson's play forcing Akers into a reserve role where he spells Brown during the game and/or eventually takes over for Brown as he develops and forms a 1-2 punch with Henderson. If this happens, Brown still has value as a flex-play and Henderson has upside on the cusp of fantasy RB2/RB3 value in PPR leagues.
Henderson is the player with the most to gain and the least to lose. Akers has the most to lose this year. Brown was a cheap addition who still has roster value in all but the smallest of roster formats such as 8- and 10-team leagues with rosters of 15-20.
I recommend adding Henderson and preemptively trading Akers to Henderson skeptics or those refusing to react to the performance that Henderson had. Unlike the James Conner-Benny Snell situation where I recommended staying the course with Conner because Snell's performance didn't come on the heels of a bad Conner performance (no matter what you heard because there was no basis in tape, as I explained here last week), Akers hasn't stood out and Henderson has.
Good luck and see you next week.