Jerry Jones gives damning response on Derrick Henry's free agency after loss to Ravens
Jerry Jones watched as Derrick Henry, a player that the Cowboys didn’t end up going after this past offseason, ran all over them on Sunday in a win for the Baltimore Ravens in Dallas. However, hindsight only matters so much considering what it would have apparently taken to add him.
Jones spoke specifically about not signing Henry after the 28-25 loss for his franchise this afternoon. Frankly, Dallas didn’t have the kind of money that it was going to take to get him on their team.
“We couldn’t afford Derrick Henry,” said Jones to the media per Jon Machota of The Athletic.
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Henry had his best game thus far through three games with Baltimore against the Cowboys as he rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns. In the two previous outings, he had posted a combined total of 130 yards and a pair of scores.
In comparison, Dallas’ backs between Rico Dowdle, Ezekiel Elliott, and Deuce Vaughn ran for a season-low of 43 yards total as a trio. That comes after they ran for 70 and a touchdown in the opener and then 57 last weekend. Those bring their rushing average for the season to just 56.7 yards per game with the Cowboys currently being among one of the worst teams in rushing to start this season.
However, Jones may be right now about what it would have taken to sign Henry.
Baltimore signed Henry to a contract at $16 million over two years. That made him one of the more highly-paid running backs in the league at an average of eight million dollars. That’s also a decent-sized figure at his age as this is ninth season following eight with the Tennessee Titans.
As for Dallas, they currently have the seventh-largest payroll in the league for this season at nearly $26 million. Those books were only more spent with the signings of CeeDee Lamb to a four-year, $136 million dollar deal, which is the second-largest ever for a non-quarterback, and then Dak Prescott on a four-year, $240 million contract, which made him the highest-paid player in the history of the league, right before the start of this season. That’s not even including the rest of their roster or the eventual signing that they may have for Micah Parsons.
The math just didn’t add up for the Cowboys if they had wanted to sign Henry. Still, it doesn’t make it any easier after what he ran for against them on Sunday.