Fantasy football managers got a surprise with Derrick Henry listed on the injury report for the Tennessee Titans in Week 9. Henry was listed with a foot injury as a limited participant to open the week. Let’s take a look at the latest regarding Henry’s injury, whether he could miss this week, and what it all means for his fantasy value as well as his fellow Titans’ RBs.
Update: Derrick Henry did not participate in practice Thursday but told reporters his foot injury was fine. His status on the Titans’ injury report was changed to “not injury related – rest.”
Is Derrick Henry’s Injury a Concern for Fantasy Managers?
There was no indication coming out of last week that Henry was dealing with an injury. However, he opened the week limited at practice for the Titans. While being limited would indicate there’s no major concern here, the designation with a foot injury does raise some questions.
This foot injury could be an issue in terms of limiting Henry’s touches this week. Therefore, if he’s active, it might be worth leaning towards looking to go lower when it comes to Henry’s Underdog Fantasy projection or fading him in daily fantasy contests. If that sounds intriguing, then new users of Underdog Fantasy can get up to a $100 deposit bonus upon signing up.
MORE: Fantasy Injury IR Updates Week 9
Henry missed the final nine games of the regular season last year with a foot injury. That previous injury increases the concern slightly for what this designation could mean going forward. Heading into Week 9, Henry has averaged 30 rushing attempts per game over the last three weeks. That heavy workload for the 28-year-old RB is always a slight concern in his durability.
How Henry progresses through the week will be intriguing to see. There is every chance that Henry being limited was a rest and maintenance situation, as opposed to anything really serious. If the Titans had major concerns about the foot issue, then Henry would have likely been absent altogether from Wednesday’s practice.
At this stage, it seems unlikely Henry misses what is a massive game for the Titans against the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead.
What Can Fantasy Managers Expect From Henry and the Titans RBs This Week?
Last year, the Titans hosted — and dominated — the Chiefs, winning 27-3. Normally, you would think that would result in a big game for Henry. However, the star RB had just 86 rushing yards and 16 receiving yards on 29 rush attempts and two targets.
Henry came into that game off the back of five straight 100-yard rushing games, having scored seven rushing touchdowns in the previous three weeks. In 2022, Henry is coming off of a four-game 100-rushing yard streak and has six touchdowns in that span. With those numbers carrying some intriguing symmetry, should we be concerned that Henry struggles against the Chiefs again this year?
Kansas City has been a middle-of-the-road defense when it comes to allowing fantasy points to RBs. Their 20.46 fantasy points allowed to the position is marginally above average across the league this season (20.24). However, the Chiefs’ defense has been inconsistent against opposing running games this year.
In the first three weeks, they allowed an average of 19 fantasy points to the RB position. Then, in Weeks 4 and 5, they allowed an average of 29.85 fantasy points to RBs, before dropping back to an average of 13.25 in Weeks 6 and 7.
We can see there is potential for Henry to have a big day, but it’s far from a slam dunk that he will continue his hot streak from the past four games.
Even so, if Henry is active, there is next to no chance that fantasy managers will consider benching him. Where the quality of the Chiefs’ against RBs defense becomes important is if Henry were to miss the game. In that case, we would likely see a combination of Dontrell Hilliard and Hassan Haskins manning Tennessee’s backfield.
If that were the case, it would be especially tough to trust Haskins. This game has a chance to get out of hand for the Titans if the Chiefs’ offense gets rolling. Therefore, we could see Tennessee having to throw the ball a lot in the second half, limiting the amount of work for a player who is more of a pure runner like Haskins.
However, we could see intriguing value for Hilliard, regardless of Henry’s status. If the Titans are chasing the game in the second half, Hilliard could see at least four or five targets. We’ve seen how dangerous Hilliard can be at times this year, finding the end zone on three occasions, despite never seeing more than five targets in a single game.