Remember When Derrick Henry Stiff-Armed a Season Ending Injury?

We all know Derrick Henry is just a different species. He is 6'3, 247 pounds, and runs a freaking 4.54 40-yard dash. He's a RB who can go pretty damn fast and hit like a linebacker. Just ask Josh Norman, he would know. Heck, Henry looks taller than some linebackers when he runs. But, despite me putting this man on a pedestal higher than the Burj Khalifa, he is still human. And we saw that during Week 8 of the 2021-2022 NFL Season.

After the game, it was revealed that Henry had suffered a rare fracture in his right foot: a Jones fracture.

A Jones fracture is in the fifth metatarsal of the foot (the really long bone under the pinky bone). As you can see by the picture, a Jones fracture is a specific type of fracture that occurs very, very close to the bottom of the fifth metatarsal (approximately 0.6 inches away from the bottom of the bone). What is interesting about this fracture is that it is very rare, as usually a fracture to the fifth metatarsal results in a stress fracture (the one highlighted in blue) or an Avulsion fracture (highlighted in purple). Out of all fractures to the fifth metatarsal, around 15% of those fractures are Jones fractures. So yeah, Derrick Henry sustained a pretty rare fracture.

But wait, it gets even more interesting. Due to the unique location of where a Jones fracture will occur, there is very limited direct blood flow for a bone. This makes the fracture not only much more painful, but it makes the healing of the Jones fracture take much more time. For reference, Stress fractures and/or Avulsion fractures usually take 4-6 weeks to heal. Jones fractures, on the other hand, take 8-12 weeks minimum. Again, this is due to a very limited supply of direct blood flow.

The very next day after his injury in Week 8 of the 2021-2022 NFL season, Henry had surgery done on his foot. This was most likely done to have the fracture fully healed without risking the chance of re-injury in the future. As I mentioned in the article covering Dolphins' RB De'Von Achane, running backs get worn down very quickly, so injury prevention steps are always a high priority for these players, which in this case was Henry getting surgery. So, the surgery on top of the already slow-healing Jones fracture should have easily knocked Henry out for the rest of the season right? Well, this article wouldn't have been published if he had sat out for the rest of the season.

Initially, it was expected after the surgery that Henry would indeed miss the entire season, as it was reported that the rehab process would be extensive and the reason he'd miss the season. But like I've said a gazillion times here on the MedBook, professional athletes are dummy-rich. The teams that they are employed for have state-of-the-art rehab facilities and give their athletes world-class nutrition. On top of that, multi-millionaires like Henry can add even more rehab privately, which speeds up the process even more. So with Derrick Henry having access to nearly unlimited access to some of the best rehab in the entire world, he absolutely crushed his rehab time. He was supposed to miss more than 12 weeks. He was activated from the IR and was cleared to fully return to football activities in 10 weeks. And sure, he wasn't very efficient in the playoff game he played after coming back from injury; he had 20 rushes for 62 yards, equating to a measly 3.1 yards a carry. This was most likely due to him playing for the first time in 11 weeks, but the fact is that even after being expected the rest of the season, he not only came back to football activities but played in a playoff game. That takes a lot, even with world-class facilities and opportunities.

The quick rebound from this injury is a positive sign for the RB for the rest of his future. Despite him being 27 years old at the time of his injury (which is ancient for RBs), and despite it being a foot injury, he bounced back very quickly and he is still playing at a high level. That is a huge break for the Tennessee Titans and Henry himself, because usually at that age for RBs, a foot injury could effectively end one's career. Like we've seen with RBs like Le'Veon Bell after even the best RBs hit 25, their production just takes a dip due to the beating their body receives. And throw in a foot injury? Enough to end an RB's career. But not Henry. He, ladies and gentlemen, is simply built differently.