Hall of Famer Terrell Davis Talks Broncos, Rams, Derrick Henry & More w/Rich

Rich asked Terrell Davis a simple question about the best running back in the National Football League entering 2026, and the Hall of Famer immediately tried to split it in half.

"If you're looking at like best production back, that's different than the best back," Davis said. Rich was not interested. "This is sports talk radio, TD. Come on now." Then, in case the point had not landed: "There's no nuance here. What are you talking about?"

So Davis committed. "I would say the best back, and I include sort of his body of work," he said, before delivering the name. "It's still Derrick Henry."

The case starts with the fact that Henry is unstoppable even when everyone in the building knows the ball is coming. "Derrick has, he's probably the few backs if any that they're going to run the ball, you know he's getting the ball, and pretty hard to stop."

Davis does think production has been left on the table in Baltimore. "For whatever reason last couple of years Baltimore just they haven't used them the way that I thought they would use them." The rest of the argument is the resume: high school, college, the pros, a season that nearly hit 2,000 yards and another at 1,900, and no visible decline. "It's hard to see Derrick Henry. I've never seen him get caught from behind." First-ballot Hall of Famer? "No question about it."

Jahmyr Gibbs got real praise and a warning about what changes when you are the only name in the backfield. "He doesn't have the Batman and Robin connection there," Davis said. "The challenge is really being the guy every down." The touches climb to maybe 20 a game, and so does everything else. "But everything's on you." Davis thinks Gibbs can carry it. "He's got that Marshall Faulk in him, man. I love the way Jahmyr runs. Maybe it's more Chris Johnson, but he's got that kind of flare to him."

On the Broncos handing play-calling to Davis Webb, Davis pointed to something Sean Payton said about himself. "Sean has admitted to this last year where he says that it's difficult now when he calls plays because he thinks about what can go wrong more than what is really happening with the play." That reads to Davis as a man recognizing the moment to let someone else take the steering wheel, helped by the fact that Bo Nix and Webb appear to have a genuine working relationship. Rich framed it as a legacy item. If Payton can strip away "the control freakishness of calling plays," it belongs among the biggest accomplishments of his career.

The Rams question produced the biggest swing of the interview. If Aaron Donald returns and lines up next to Myles Garrett, Davis hedged only on the reality of a three-year layoff. "There's a different workout with you working out to prepare for football versus playing football." Then he said it anyway. If it is the same Donald who left three years ago, with Garrett next to him, "you may have to pencil in the Rams in the Super Bowl."

Davis came on to raise awareness for the other TD, tardive dyskinesia, in partnership with Teva Pharmaceuticals. He described it as a chronic movement disorder marked by repetitive and uncontrollable movements, caused by certain prescription mental health medications such as an antidepressant or an antipsychotic. Symptoms can appear in the face, hands, feet or torso, can look like shaking or trembling, and can affect a person's ability to eat, walk and talk. More is at theotherTD.com.

The one thing Rich could not pry loose was a John Elway story. No huddle speech, nothing before the helicopter play, nothing said during the week that later came true. "He wasn't that kind of quarterback," Davis said, then turned it back on his host. "You should have told me before I came over here." Rich booked him again before the season. Homework assigned.