Giants’ monumental task in Game 1: Slowing down Derrick Henry

Derrick Henry is taller and heavier than all but three members of the Giants’ starting defense.

There is nothing in today’s pass-first NFL quite like the challenge of facing the preeminent power running back of his generation, which might explain why Giants cornerback Adoree’ Jackson — Henry’s former Tennessee Titans teammate — crossed sports for an apt comparison.

“He’s going to do what he does,” Jackson said. “LeBron James is going to be LeBron James: You may be able to cool him off for like one, two, three quarters, but at the end of the day he’s still going to get his points. Just put 11 hats to the ball [against Henry] and just try to limit him as much as possible. But, I mean, that’s the top back in the league.”

Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale stuck to football for his comparison — but traveled back about 60 years to explain what awaits Sunday when the Giants visit the Titans.

“He’s like our modern day Jim Brown, I think,” Martindale said. “He’s just that much different when he has the ball in his hands, so it’s a challenge every time he touches it.”

The 6-foot-3, 247-pound Henry has averaged 5 yards on 900 carries over the past three seasons, winning back-to-back rushing titles with 1,540 yards in 2019 and 2,027 in 2020. Before a broken bone in his right foot caused him to miss the final nine games of the 2021 regular season, Henry was so dominant that he had more rushing yards after contact (587 of his 783) than any other player had total rushing yards through six weeks.

“There’s a reason why they call Derrick Henry ‘The King,’ ” Martindale said. “Because he’s on the Iron Throne, for all you Game of Thrones fans.”

A full array of “Derrick Henry stiff arm” GIFs live on social media for those interested in seeing helpless defensive backs flying to the ground. Punishment isn’t as easy to dole out on 300-pounders.

“If you watch tape on Derrick Henry, he’s definitely a big back, but you don’t see him being a big back until he gets in space,” defensive lineman Leonard Williams told The Post. “When he is on the line of scrimmage, he’s like most backs. When he gets in space, that’s when he tries to punish DBs, stiff arm and put his body on guys that are a lot smaller than him. Our job as defensive linemen is not to let him get to the second level.”

Easier said than done because Henry isn’t plodding through the line. He’s also a home run hitter with a NFL-best nine touchdown runs of at least 50 yards since 2018.

“One of the best backs of all time,” Williams said. “He is always the guy teams will circle and try to prepare for, and he still happens to have 100-plus rushing games all the time.”

In four career regular-season or playoff games against Martindale’s defenses — when he was with the Ravens, before coming to the Giants — Henry has carried 83 times for 389 yards and a touchdown, including a 195-yard performance to oust the AFC’s No. 1 seed in the 2019 playoffs. Such is the risk of a blitz-happy scheme.

“It can definitely hurt a team that blitzes a lot if he gets past that first level of defense because there is nobody behind to get him down,” Williams said.

Two of the Giants’ 10 highest-paid players are defensive tackles (Williams and Dexter Lawrence). The third cog in a defense built up the middle by former general manager Dave Gettleman to stop the run is gone after the surprise release of 100-tackle machine Blake Martinez, who was penciled in as a starting inside linebacker until last week. Starting edge linebackers Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari both are unlikely to play.

Bad timing with Henry on deck.

“Coach-to-player and player-to-player, a D-lineman respects another D-lineman that can stop the run,” Williams said. “It might not be that way for fans because they like to see the pretty sacks, but we know that it takes a lot to stop the run.”

So, is there any way to slow Henry down?

“Yeah, if he’s not at the game,” head coach Brian Daboll quipped. “We’re going to have to have all hands on deck and do the best job we can of running to the football and gang tackling. You even see him on plays he might have three or four guys on him, and somehow he squirts through.”