Henry To Titans

[Burt the Butcher]

The Tennessee Titans have reached agreement in principle on a trade to
acquire disgruntled Buffalo Bills running back Travis Henry and,
barring unexpected complications, the deal will be announced early next week.

In return for Henry, who last season lost his starting job to Willis
McGahee and who has not participated in any of the Bills' offseason
sessions, Buffalo will receive a 2006 third-round draft choice. The
paperwork for the trade, which is not contingent upon the Titans reaching a
contract extension agreement with Henry, has been forwarded to the league
offices.

The trade is contingent, as are most deals, on the 26-year-old Henry
passing a Tennessee-administered physical exam.

"From what we've been told, Travis is headed to Tennessee," agent
Hadley Engelhard said on Saturday morning. "I don't know if Floyd [Reese,
Titans general manager] will try to do an extension or not. We'll have to
wait and see about that."

Henry is entering the final season of his contract and is scheduled to
have a base salary of $1.25 million for 2005. If he does not sign an
extension, Henry will become an unrestricted free agent next spring.

Tennessee officials have been attempting for much of the spring to
solidify the running back situation behind starter Chris Brown, a two-year
veteran whose brief career has so far been marred by injuries. Brown
rushed for 1,067 yards in 2004, his first year as the starter after
replacing Eddie George, but missed five games with injuries. Brown also
missed five games in his 2003 rookie season, is currently recovering from a
broken hand sustained in an offseason practices, and his durability is
a concern.

Henry has also suffered some injury problems in his NFL career but is
also noted for his toughness, as exemplified by the fact that he played
the latter part of the 2003 season with a hairline leg fracture. It's a
good bet that Titans coach Jeff Fisher will like Henry's toughness, and
it will not be surprising if the hard-running back pushes Brown for the
starting spot.

Despite reports earlier in the week that the Jacksonville Jaguars were
close to acquiring Henry, they did not make a trade offer to the Bills
until Friday night. The Jags also offered a third-round choice.

In their quest to add a proven running back as an insurance policy
against the possibility that star Fred Taylor might not be fully
rehabilitated from knee surgery for the start of the regular season, the Jaguars
had completed one crucial element in a potential acquisition of Henry.
The Jaguars earlier this week reached agreement in principle with Henry
on a multi-year contract extension.
But the Jaguars lagged in the second half of the equation: satisfying
the price tag of Buffalo general manager Tom Donahoe, who had all along
been seeking a third-round draft pick in return for the four-year
veteran back. By the time Jacksonville finally made a proposal to Buffalo,
the Bills were more inclined to accept the Titans' offer.

[Preds]

Great deal for the Bills IMO (all things considered). Horrible deal for Chrissy Brown owners.

Tennessee's 3rd rd pick is likely to be much higher than the Jags, so this is about the best scenario most Bills fans could imagine. Donahoe played his way out of a sticky situation.

The best part of all this, we got McGahee for essentially Peerless Price (it was Atlanta's pick that they used to gamble on Willis), and in the end we had to sacrifice Travis for the 3rd... but a healthy McGahee and the Titans 3rd for Henry and Price looks like highway robbery to me.

[smsmith40]

As a Brown owner in another Dynasty and a HEnry owner in the CDL this looks like the worst of all deals.

For some reason I doubt that TEN cares about Crissy Brown owners and what they think of this deal

[smsmith40]

I agree but I can't really see the point from a Tennessee point of view either. Its not like they're going to make a serious run this year, they are rebuiding their way out of cap hell so they don't need insurance at RB. Why not find out if Brown is the answer, if not then draft or trade next offseason when there will be another glut of tailbacks around.

If they are trying to get their cap back in shape then why sign Henry to a long term deal?