Emmitt Smith believes Derrick Henry can surpass him as NFL's all-time leading rusher

Derrick Henry is stiff-arming Father Time. The Baltimore Ravens running back's age-32 season began with him stacking three touchdowns, along with 144 rushing yards, in a Week 1 win over the Indianapolis Colts .

He's a Heisman Trophy winner and a national champion, plus a five-time Pro Bowler. And, perhaps most notably, the Alabama product is already the NFL's 10th all-time leading rusher .

After his performance this past Sunday, he needs 5,193 rushing yards to surpass Dallas Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith for the most rushing yards ever logged in league history.

"Oh yeah, I think it's possible," Smith told DraftKings . "Derrick Henry is a bigger back. He takes good care of his body. He's in great shape."

Smith later added: "Y'all don't know this, but Derrick Henry broke my high school record. He broke my state high school record. So I believe he can do it again."

Before Smith won three Super Bowl rings with the Cowboys en route to becoming a Pro Football Hall of Famer, he racked up 8,804 rushing yards as a standout at Escambia High School in Florida. Henry starred at Yulee, where he clocked out with a whopping 12,124 rushing yards.

Smith's illustrious NFL résumé left him with more of a cushion in that department. Following his two-year stint with the Arizona Cardinals , he had 18,355 rushing yards.

At the moment, Henry is sitting at 13,162 rushing yards. The 6-foot-3, 252-pounder accounted for the majority of that yardage during his eight seasons with the Tennessee Titans , but he's kept his foot on the gas since joining the Ravens in 2024.

Famously, Henry is one of nine NFL players to run for at least 2,000 yards in a season . He accomplished that feat in 2020 with the Titans — earning NFL Offensive Player of the Year as a result — however, he eventually flirted with crossing that barrier again in his first season with Baltimore.

Henry's impressive start to the 2026 campaign has sparked debate about where he ranks at his position in NFL lore.

After all, he's already a two-time league rushing leader (2019 and 2020), and he's worn the single-season rushing touchdown crown on three occasions (2019, 2020 and 2024).

"I think we're not vocal enough about Derrick Henry being the greatest running back of all time, arguably," former five-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Terron Armstead said Wednesday on NFL on CBS . "We talk about him being a Hall of Famer, but it is time to really have that conversation that he may be the greatest running back of all time. And I think we lack that conversation because he's not flashy, he's not shifty. We see Barry Sanders, we see the Gale Sayers of the world. But when you talk production — 2,000 yards rushing, leads the league in touchdowns — time and time again, year after year, and he's only getting better. We need to have that conversation. ... "His career didn't start off hot. Barry Sanders was 10 straight [1,000-plus-yard rushing seasons], electric. Derrick Henry, he had growing pains. He had a learning curve. And since then, he's been incredible, unstoppable with different offenses, different offensive lines, different offensive coordinators. He has been a constant level of elite production. We got to have that conversation."

"I think we're not vocal enough about Derrick Henry being the greatest running back of all time, arguably," former five-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Terron Armstead said Wednesday on NFL on CBS .

"We talk about him being a Hall of Famer, but it is time to really have that conversation that he may be the greatest running back of all time. And I think we lack that conversation because he's not flashy, he's not shifty. We see Barry Sanders, we see the Gale Sayers of the world. But when you talk production — 2,000 yards rushing, leads the league in touchdowns — time and time again, year after year, and he's only getting better. We need to have that conversation. ...

"His career didn't start off hot. Barry Sanders was 10 straight [1,000-plus-yard rushing seasons], electric. Derrick Henry, he had growing pains. He had a learning curve. And since then, he's been incredible, unstoppable with different offenses, different offensive lines, different offensive coordinators. He has been a constant level of elite production. We got to have that conversation."

That conversation will get even more interesting the more Henry chips away at Smith's career rushing mark.