Projecting Derrick Henry's Next Contract After Saquon Barkley's $41M Eagles Extension

The top of the market for the NFL's top running backs has been raised ahead of Derrick Henry's contract season.

The Philadelphia Eagles have made Saquon Barkley the highest-paid running back in NFL history by offering him a two-year, $41.2 million extension, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Tuesday.

Barkley is the first running back to earn more than $20 million per season. Christian McCaffrey set the previous positional record with the two-year, $38 million extension he signed with the San Francisco 49ers last summer.

Henry is currently signed for the 2025 season with the Baltimore Ravens at a cap hit of $12.9 million. Spotrac previously projected his contract value at a two-year, $27.5 million deal.

Henry, who turned 31 in January, produced similar output to 28-year-old Barkley in 2024.

Barkley led the NFL with 2,005 rushing yards on 345 carries last season. Henry outpaced him in yards per attempt, finishing the season with 1,921 rushing yards on 20 fewer carries.

Henry signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the Ravens last offseason. He ended up earning $11 million with incentives and setting himself on track for a potential raise with his resurgence in 2024.

When speaking with Micah Parsons during a special episode of The Edge in February, Henry named Barkley, himself, Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Joe Mixon and Josh Jacobs as running backs who showed their worth in 2024.

"We didn't show our value this year, then I don't even know what to say," Henry said (1:03:30 mark.) "But we definitely wanted to bring that spotlight back to the position, show our value, show how important our role is to a team."

Henry continued: "Christian got paid last offseason, which, that helped some. Hopefully, this year, some people'll be able to get paid."

The Barkley extension might have been exactly what Henry was looking for to continue raising the RB market.

Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said in January the Ravens will "look at" extending Henry this offseason.

"I think he proved he had a lot left in the tank... we'll look at that. I think it's a good question. I'm just so grateful that Derrick chose us last year," DeCosta said about a potential extension.

Henry meanwhile told The Athletic's Dianna Russini last month that he wants to finish out his career with the Ravens.

Having Henry retire a Raven isn't the only benefit Baltimore could gain by extending his contract, even if that costs more than the initial $13.8 million average annual value projected by Spotrac.

As noted by NFL.com's Kevin Patra, the Barkley extension could potentially allow the Eagles to lower his $7.4 million salary cap hit for the 2025 season.

The Ravens currently rank among the bottom ten NFL teams in terms of salary cap space, per Over the Cap. Being able to similarly reduce Henry's cap hit could be crucial to gaining enough room to address roster needs this offseason.