We’re back to provide the rapid reaction to the significant injury that Derrick Henry is believed to have sustained and the fantasy football impact on the rest of the Tennessee Titans’ roster.
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The Details of Derrick Henry‘s Injury
Derrick Henry suffers potentially season-ending foot injury in Week 8
Titans’ star RB Derrick Henry suffered a potentially season-ending foot injury in the team’s Week 8 overtime win over the Colts. ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes it could be a Jones fracture that would require surgery (and end his season).
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How does Derrick Henry‘s injury impact the Tennessee Titans?
Our analysts shares how the injury impacts Henry, several Titans’ players, and potentially other running backs:
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Dan Harris’s take
Impact on Derrick Henry
What a brutal development for a player who was essentially in his own tier. You can wait for official word on Henry being out for the rest of the regular season before dropping him in redraft formats, but chances are, we’ve seen the last of him from a fantasy standpoint for this season. For dynasty purposes, given that the injury is reportedly a Jones fracture, Henry should drop a few spots. Jones fractures are generally a bit more prone to reinjury as opposed to other fractures, but it’s not significant enough for managers to entirely move off him long term.
Impact on Others
With Darrynton Evans out for the season, the Titans wasted no time and signed Adrian Peterson on Monday. Peterson is certainly not close to the peak version of himself, and finally seemed to be slowing down significantly last year with the Lions when he averaged just 3.9 yards per carry. He’s not walking into Henry’s workload, of course, and Jeremy McNichols should see enough work in the passing game to be a viable flex play in bye weeks. A likely lower rushing volume for the Titans should also mean an increased number of pass attempts for Ryan Tannehill, but a likely decrease in efficiency to offset it. In other words, I think the impact on all other players on the Titans should likely be minimal from a fantasy perspective.
Peterson moves to 32nd in my rest-of-season running back rankings, while McNichols moves to 45th.
Pat Fitzmaurice’s take:
What a depressing injury. It derails a potentially historic season. It badly damages the title chances of his investors. It will make the NFL a little less fun in the months to come.
Before Monday, the Titans only had Jeremy McNichols and Dontrell Hilliard on the depth chart, plus former undrafted free agent Mekhi Sargent on the practice squad. On Monday they signed Adrian Peterson, who ran for 604 yards and seven TDs with the Lions last year but averaged 3.9 yards per carry and appeared to be nearly out of his old burst. Could Peterson handle the rushing load mostly by himself at age 36? That seems unlikely. I think McNichols might play a key role, too. He hasn’t panned out in the NFL yet, but McNichols was a prolific college producer at Boise State who had 3,046 rushing yards, 934 receiving yards and 53 total touchdowns over his final two college seasons and has above-average athleticism for the position.
Peterson moves to 28th in my rest-of-season running back rankings, while McNichols moves to 43rd.
The other question is whether Henry’s absence will increase the value of Ryan Tannehill, A.J. Brown, and some of the Titans’ other pass catchers due to a likely increase in passing volume. I tend to think any increase in volume will be offset by a lack of efficiency. With opponents no longer stacking the box and keying on Henry, the Titans’ play-action passing game won’t work as well. Tannehill is sort of a system QB and not a guy who can line up in the shotgun with an empty backfield and pick apart a defense. His completion percentage and yard per attempt will probably drop.
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