Derrick Henry twists the knife on Cowboys' biggest offseason whiff

Much to the chagrin of their fanbase, the Dallas Cowboys have been extremely quiet this offseason. America's Team has largely been a bystander during the NFL's free agent period, and it now appears that despite a glaring need for running back help, Jerry Jones and company didn't even reach out to Derrick Henry before the bruising running back signed with the Baltimore Ravens last month.

Perhaps Jones was too busy scheming a way to bring John Calipari to his Arkansas Razorbacks, or perhaps he knew that the Cowboys' limited cap space would make it difficult to procure the services of Henry, who ended up signing with Baltimore for two years and $16 million. Either way, Dallas currently has a backfield consisting of Rico Dowdle and Deuce Vaughn, which likely means that they'll look to the upcoming NFL Draft to find someone that can fill the void left after Tony Pollard took Henry's place in Tennessee.

After missing out on Henry, the Cowboys desperately need to address their running back situation

Henry has maintained that the Ravens, who nearly traded for the Heisman Trophy winner last season after losing JK Dobbins and Keaton Mitchell to season-ending injuries, were always his number-one choice in free agency, and he shed more light on how his free-agent process played out in an interview on The Jim Rome Show this week.

"For the record, Baltimore was always my No. 1 option," said Henry, h/t NFL.com. "That's always where I wanted to go. And like I said, I know the trade talks, it was almost going to happen, but I didn't know once free agency started if they still felt the same until I talked to my agent to see what was really going on. And I know, like you said, the Cowboys lost (Tony) Pollard, so I didn't know if they're going to be looking for a running back. I live here in the offseason, I've been training here, living here for a while, so I just thought it made sense, and you know, I thought there'd be talks. But they never really reached out. And you know, like I said, everything happens for a reason, I just pray to God to put me in the place where I'm meant to be, and Baltimore is that spot. And I'm happy and I'm excited for the opportunity. But the Cowboys never reached out, and it's all good. At the end of the day, no hard feelings."

Henry signing with Baltimore was one of the most popular free agency predictions among those in the know, so it came as no surprise when he joined Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh shortly after free agency went live.

After losing at home to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship, the Ravens are hoping that Henry is the missing piece to get them over the hump. Some people around the NFL are understandably concerned about how much difference a 30-year-old running back with so much mileage can really make, but if Henry, who has led the league in carries four of the past five years, can just stay upright, it will already be a huge upgrade over Baltimore's depleted running back corps from a year ago.

As for the Cowboys, Jerry Jones' frustrating lack of urgency in addressing the needs of his team has some people around the league believing in conspiracy theories. As Henry integrates with Jackson, Mark Andrews and Zay Flowers, It's looking like Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb are going to have to carry an even bigger burden next year.