The second day of legal tampering, aka, early free agency, was well underway on Tuesday and the signing's kept on coming, with Derrick Henry finding a new home with the Baltimore Ravens. After rumors had started swirling Monday of the partnership, Henry reached a two-year, $20 million deal with the Ravens, with $9 million guaranteed, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The former Tennessee Titans running back has been the most productive at his position for almost a decade. He's rushed for at least 1,000 yards in five out of the last six seasons, with 2020 being his best, rushing for 2,027 yards, earning him the honor of the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award. He was the league's leading rusher in both 2019 and 2020.

Henry, 30, will be embarking on an interesting time in his career. It will be his ninth season in the league, one where he has seen little team success and mainly only individual. But he'll be joining a Ravens team that has made the postseason in five out of the last six seasons. It's also a team that is well-known for their rushing attack. Baltimore finished with the No. 1 rushing offense in the league in 2023 with 2,661 yards.

On paper, this seems like it couldn't be a better pairing. The league's top rusher for over half a decade paired with the best rushing offense in the league. Let's see how it graded out.

Grading the Ravens' signing of Derrick Henry

Derrick Henry, John Harbaugh, Lamar Jackson

The Ravens failed once again to earn their way back to the Super Bowl, falling to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, even though they had the home-field advantage. For some odd reason, the Ravens decided to get away from the bread and butter to what brought them to the dance, that being their rushing attack, only running the ball 16 times for 84 yards in the game.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson is obviously a large part of the Ravens' running offense, so maybe the change in game plan was to keep him as healthy as possible against what was a stout Chiefs defense. Either way, the Ravens were going to need to give Jackson some help in 2024 due to both JK Dobbins and Gus Edwards becoming free agents. Edwards has already found a new home with the Los Angeles Chargers, agreeing to a two-year, $7 million deal. No deals have been made for Dobbins as of this writing.

If you're Jackson, you have to feel pretty good about acquiring Henry. Jackson is already a massive headache to opposing defenses and by now putting a 6-foot-3, nearly 250-pound running back as another option puts further stress on teams. The duo should do well in complementing one another, seemingly taking stress off one another.

Jackson now doesn't have to be the lead rusher of the team — something he's been for the Ravens for the past five seasons. But Henry doesn't have to be the majority of the running game either. That will do well for a running back that has over 2,000 touches and over 9,500 yards in his career to date.

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Coming into the 2024 season, the biggest question concerning Henry had to be that of his age and the beating his body has taken over the past eight years. That may have been why he was one of the later free-agent running backs to reach a deal in the past two days, with 10 coming before him.

Henry was the Titans' offense over the last eight seasons, even in his last. Behind a poor offensive line and all, Henry still finished second in the league in rushing yards with 1,167. In his final game, he rushed for 153 yards and hit 21.7 mph, per ESPN. That can only mean there's still some gas left in the tank, right?

That's what Jackson, head coach John Harbaugh, and the rest of the Ravens are hoping for. Considering all the other running back options reached new deals and the market isn't quite what it was, the Ravens' two-year, $20 million, with $9 million guaranteed to Henry seems like a fairly reasonable gamble. Baltimore continues to be a dominant running team that gets more physical albeit with an older but highly proven back at a decent cost.

Grade: A