Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry leads the NFL with eight rushing touchdowns in seven games this season. That has pushed his career total to 98 rushing touchdowns, leaving him on the doorstep of becoming of the 10th player in NFL history with 100.
Waiting to welcome him into that club is another former Alabama ball-carrier, Shaun Alexander.
“I’m just proud of him,” Alexander said about Henry during an appearance on NFL Network’s “The Insiders.” “I call him my little nephew. He plays hard. He plays the way the game is supposed to be done. He’ll be the next guy in the 100-touchdown club, and it’s going to be pretty sweet.”
The players who have rushed for 100 touchdowns in the NFL are:
· Emmitt Smith: 164
· LaDainian Tomlinson: 145
· Marcus Allen: 123
· Adrian Peterson: 120
· Walter Payton: 110
· Jim Brown: 106
· John Riggins: 104
· Shaun Alexander: 100
· Marshall Faulk: 100
“That was my goal from the very beginning,” Alexander said, “watching Barry (Sanders), watching Emmitt – was to one day be a part of that 100-touchdown club, and I knew that one of my favorite players, Barry, only had 99, so to accomplish that was really sweet.”
Of the nine players with 100 NFL rushing touchdowns, seven are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Peterson will not become eligible for consideration until the Class of 2027. Alexander is in his 12th year of eligibility but has not been selection for induction.
On Wednesday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the 50 players chosen by the Modern-Era Players Screening Committee from 167 nominees to continue as candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025. Alexander was among the six running backs who made the cut, along with Tiki Barber, Eddie George, Mashawn Lynch, Fred Taylor and Ricky Watters.
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Alexander played in the NFL from 2000 through 2008, with all but four of his 123 regular-season games in the Seattle Seahawks uniform. He ran for 9,453 yards and 100 touchdowns on 2,187 carries and caught 215 passes for 1,520 yards and 12 touchdowns. Alexander won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award in 2005, when he won the rushing crown with 1,880 yards, set a league single-season record with 27 rushing touchdowns and led the Seahawks to the Super Bowl.
Henry heads into Baltimore’s game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday leading the NFL with 873 rushing yards. That has pushed his career total to 10,375 yards on 2,164 carries. Henry replaced Alexander as the Alabama alumnus with the most NFL rushing yards in the final game of the 2023 regular-season. Henry needs 24 rushing attempts to replace Alexander at the top of that Crimson Tide NFL list.
Henry also replaced Alexander as the career rushing leader at Alabama. Henry ran for 3,591 yards for the Tide from 2013 through 2015, and Alexander ran for 3,565 yards for Alabama from 1996 through 1999.
But it’s not a straight apples-to-apples comparison. The NCAA did not count statistics from bowls in its official records until the 2002 season, so Alexander’s record does not include 315 yards and four touchdowns on 55 rushing attempts during his three bowl appearances.
“I remember when he was in high school and was coming to Bama, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a big joker,’” Alexander said. “And just seeing him run and pick up speed – the sneakiest thing is how fast he really is to be that big. Once he gets moving, it’s pretty impressive. To see him go out there and have a great career at Alabama, then get to Tennessee, now you’re watching him with the Ravens, and you get (quarterback) Lamar Jackson on your team and he can hold it or give it to him, that threat alone makes it even harder for him to stop, and he was already hard if you knew he was going to get the ball.”
Alexander will be back in Tuscaloosa on Saturday to serve as the grand marshal for Alabama’s homecoming parade, which starts at 10 a.m. CDT. The Crimson Tide plays Missouri in the homecoming game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. ABC will televise the game.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
