Derrick Henry on ‘rocket fuel’ is the key to Baltimore Ravens getting past Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs, and Lamar Jackson winning his first Super Bowl

The biggest question of a new NFL season cannot be answered without first answering another query.

Is Derrick Henry a 30-year-old running back in decline now that he’s joined the Baltimore Ravens?

Or is King Henry the perfect answer for Lamar Jackson, at a time when one of the most talented quarterbacks in the league has been brutally compared to a missing person in the postseason?

“We need to see Lamar Jackson, who’s been on a milk carton in the playoffs. He’s missing,” said Julian Edelman, who won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and is an all-time favorite wide receiver for Tom Brady.

Jackson, a dangerous dual threat, must finally prove that he’s MVP-worthy once the regular season ends.

Henry, king of the stiff arms and with 9,502 career rushing yards, must complement Action Jackson throughout a 17-game campaign, then help carry the Ravens past the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals in a loaded AFC.

“How many yards will Henry run for in 2024?” is a pressing Q for fantasy football owners, and could define how high John Harbaugh’s squad soars this year.

“I would guess 1,200 to 1,300 (yards),” Kyle Goon, sports columnist for The Baltimore Banner, exclusively told talkSPORT.

“I don’t think it’s gonna be top, top end, and I think the Ravens are gonna pick and choose a little bit. They like to rotate backs.

“But I mean, obviously, you don’t get Derrick Henry unless you plan to run him at least 250 times, right?

“He’ll be one of the higher yardage backs in the NFL and definitely be a goal line threat.”

The 6ft 2in, 247lb Henry is undoubtedly one of the best running backs of his generation, during an era when the position is more undervalued than ever.

He led the NFL in carries, rushing yards and TDs in 2019 and ’20, posting back-to-back All-Pro seasons while winning Offensive Player of the Year.

Last season, Henry led the NFL in rushes (280), and he’s achieved that feat in four of the last five campaigns.

But Henry’s yards-per-carry average peaked at 5.4 in 2020, and the former Tennessee Titans powerhouse posted a career-low 4.2 YPC last season before signing a two-year, $16 million deal with the Ravens.

A QB of Henry’s professional stature would have at least received a four-year, $180 million contract to sign with a new team — and King Henry has been far more valuable between the lines than Kirk Cousins who signed his latest lucrative deal in Free Agency with Atlanta earlier this year.

Baltimore is trying to add a third Super Bowl trophy to its previous two, and Henry was a critical offseason addition at a time when Jackson is again facing daily external pressure and noise.

The Chiefs, back-to-back Super Bowl champs aiming for a first-ever three-peat, have surrounded Patrick Mahomes with a multitude of offensive weapons including Travis Kelce, Isiah Pacheco, Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown, a former Ravens first-round pick.

Baltimore ranked fourth in the NFL in average scoring (28.4 points) and sixth in total yards (370.4) last season, but the Ravens only produced 10 points at home in a frustrating AFC Championship game defeat to Kansas City that ended with a smiling Taylor Swift and Kelce sharing the M&T Bank Stadium spotlight.

Enter Henry, who will be asked to balance out Baltimore’s offense in his ninth NFL season, and first away from Tennessee.

“Last year, the Ravens had running back Gus Edwards and he had a bunch of touchdowns and he was more of a specialist,” Goon said.

“Now, Derrick Henry is kind of like Gus Edwards on rocket fuel, right? So I think it will be a really interesting combination.”

Jackson must learn that he doesn’t have to do it all by himself in the biggest game of the Ravens’ season.

Henry has spent almost a decade running over and through opposing defenders, reminding the NFL of the overwhelming power of an old-school back in a QB-obsessed league.

Now, King Henry has to help Jackson win his first Super Bowl.

That starts on Sept 5 inside Arrowhead Stadium, as the NFL kicks off 2024 with Mahomes, Kelce, Jackson and Henry in a bad blood AFC Championship rematch.

“I’ve bought into that combination of him (Henry) and Lamar Jackson more as we’ve gone through camp and this could actually work,” Goon said.

“But you never know until Week 1, right? You never know until you actually see it roll out and, and see how they actually do it.”