The Baltimore Ravens will face the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 16. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding RB Derrick Henry.
Is Derrick Henry Playing in Week 16?
Henry is not listed on the injury report this week, so barring any unexpected setbacks, he is on track to play this weekend.
We’ll continue to monitor the Ravens’ injury report. You can also visit and bookmark our NFL Injury Tracker and Fantasy News Tracker for the latest updates.
Should You Start or Sit Derrick Henry in Week 16?
Henry was scripted out of last week’s win, but in the opposite direction as you’d expect.
Usually, when “game scripted” is cited within a Henry write-up in the past, it’s been detailing a fall-beyond spot where the passing game is prioritized. Sunday’s bludgeoning of the Giants meant eight carries for Rasheen Ali and thus not a full workload for their bellcow.
In looking forward, I’m not at all concerned about the down Week 15 performance. The Steelers are an elite unit, but they do cough up rushing touchdowns to opposing running backs at the 10th-highest rate.
Henry is the best bet to run for 100 yards and score weekly — this week is no different.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Week 16 Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Derrick Henry’s Fantasy Points Projection in Week 16
As of Saturday morning, Henry is projected to score 20.8 fantasy points in PPR formats. This includes 21.9 rushing attempts for 103.4 yards and 1 touchdowns. It also includes 1.8 receptions for 17.4 yards and 0.1 touchdowns.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
PFN Insight on the Texans' Defense
The Houston Texans defense has become the team's backbone this season, but the unit delivered one of its worst performances in the Week 16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Houston had its second-lowest Defense+ grade of the season (70.4, C-), with the season opener against the Indianapolis Colts being the only lower grade.
The Texans' pass defense had arguably its worst game of the year, posting season-lows in pass success rate (46.7%) and EPA per dropback (-0.34). Houston’s ferocious pass rush has carried the unit for much of the season but couldn’t take advantage of a Chiefs offensive line that has been leaky for most of the year.
The Texans recorded their fourth-lowest sack rate (2.4%) all season, bringing down Patrick Mahomes just one time.
Overall, any unit led by Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. up front will generate strong sack totals, so this shouldn’t be a weakness that carries over into the postseason. But Houston has the lowest Offense+ grade of any team in the field, leaving this unit with very little margin for error when its strengths aren’t clicking.
For more insight on all other team defenses, head to our PFN Defense+ Metric Analysis.
Derrick Henry’s Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 12:45 AM ET on Friday, December 27. If you're in a Superflex league, make sure you check out our Weekly Consensus Superflex Rankings.
Week 17 RB PPR Rankings
1) Saquon Barkley | PHI (vs. DAL)
2) Jahmyr Gibbs | DET (at SF)
3) Derrick Henry | BAL (at HOU)
4) Bijan Robinson | ATL (at WAS)
5) Josh Jacobs | GB (at MIN)
6) De'Von Achane | MIA (at CLE)
7) Jonathan Taylor | IND (at NYG)
8) Chase Brown | CIN (vs. DEN)
9) Kyren Williams | LAR (vs. ARI)
10) James Conner | ARI (at LAR)
11) Bucky Irving | TB (vs. CAR)
12) Chuba Hubbard | CAR (at TB)
13) James Cook | BUF (vs. NYJ)
14) Breece Hall | NYJ (at BUF)
15) Joe Mixon | HOU (vs. BAL)
16) Zach Charbonnet | SEA (at CHI)
17) Aaron Jones | MIN (vs. GB)
18) Jerome Ford | CLE (vs. MIA)
19) Brian Robinson Jr. | WAS (vs. ATL)
20) Tony Pollard | TEN (at JAX)
21) Rico Dowdle | DAL (at PHI)
22) D'Andre Swift | CHI (vs. SEA)
23) Isaac Guerendo | SF (vs. DET)
24) Rhamondre Stevenson | NE (vs. LAC)
25) Rachaad White | TB (vs. CAR)
26) J.K. Dobbins | LAC (at NE)
27) Alexander Mattison | LV (at NO)
28) Isiah Pacheco | KC (at PIT)
29) Kendre Miller | NO (vs. LV)
30) Tyjae Spears | TEN (at JAX)
31) Travis Etienne Jr. | JAX (vs. TEN)
32) Jaylen Warren | PIT (vs. KC)
33) Javonte Williams | DEN (at CIN)
34) Tank Bigsby | JAX (vs. TEN)
35) Gus Edwards | LAC (at NE)
36) Kimani Vidal | LAC (at NE)
37) Najee Harris | PIT (vs. KC)
38) Ameer Abdullah | LV (at NO)
39) Kareem Hunt | KC (at PIT)
40) Devin Singletary | NYG (vs. IND)
41) Tyler Allgeier | ATL (at WAS)
42) Audric Estimé | DEN (at CIN)
43) Ray Davis | BUF (vs. NYJ)
44) Raheem Mostert | MIA (at CLE)
45) Antonio Gibson | NE (vs. LAC)
46) Kenneth Gainwell | PHI (vs. DAL)
47) Craig Reynolds | DET (at SF)
48) Cam Akers | MIN (vs. GB)
49) Ty Johnson | BUF (vs. NYJ)
50) Blake Corum | LAR (vs. ARI)
51) Patrick Taylor Jr. | SF (vs. DET)
52) Roschon Johnson | CHI (vs. SEA)
53) Braelon Allen | NYJ (at BUF)
54) Jeremy McNichols | WAS (vs. ATL)
55) Jaleel McLaughlin | DEN (at CIN)
56) Isaiah Davis | NYJ (at BUF)
57) D'Onta Foreman | CLE (vs. MIA)
58) Jamaal Williams | NO (vs. LV)
59) Cordarrelle Patterson | PIT (vs. KC)
60) Emanuel Wilson | GB (at MIN)
61) DeeJay Dallas | ARI (at LAR)
62) Chris Brooks | GB (at MIN)
63) Pierre Strong Jr. | CLE (vs. MIA)
64) Keaton Mitchell | BAL (at HOU)
65) Trey Benson | ARI (at LAR)
66) Ke'Shawn Vaughn | SF (vs. DET)
67) Sean Tucker | TB (vs. CAR)
68) Tyrone Tracy Jr. | NYG (vs. IND)
69) Israel Abanikanda | SF (vs. DET)
70) Samaje Perine | KC (at PIT)
71) Michael Carter | ARI (at LAR)
72) Ezekiel Elliott | DAL (at PHI)
73) Khalil Herbert | CIN (vs. DEN)
74) Dare Ogunbowale | HOU (vs. BAL)
75) Jaylen Wright | MIA (at CLE)
76) Kyle Juszczyk | SF (vs. DET)
77) Trey Sermon | IND (at NYG)
78) Mike Boone | CAR (at TB)
79) Chris Rodriguez Jr. | WAS (vs. ATL)
80) Sione Vaki | DET (at SF)
81) Dameon Pierce | HOU (vs. BAL)
82) Hunter Luepke | DAL (at PHI)
83) Alec Ingold | MIA (at CLE)
84) Tyler Goodson | IND (at NYG)
85) Will Shipley | PHI (vs. DAL)
Ravens at Texans Trends and Insight
Baltimore Ravens
Team: Since the start of the last regular season, no team has had more double-digit point wins than the Ravens.
QB: Lamar Jackson has set a career-high for touchdown passes in a season and now has tossed multiple scores in eight of his past nine games (three TD passes in his first three games this season).
Offense: Baltimore was 0-of-2 in terms of turning goal-to-go drives into touchdowns in Week 1 – they are 28-of-30 since
Defense: In Weeks 1-10, Baltimore allowed 7.9 yards per pass – that rate sits at 5.9 since.
Fantasy: Derrick Henry has failed to score a touchdown in four straight games, the first time he has done that since opening the 2018 season with six-in-a-row. Marcus Mariota led that Titans team in passing and Corey Davis in receiving – yea, it’s been a minute.
Betting: The Ravens blew out the Dolphins in Week 17 last season. Since then, they are 0-4 ATS on short rest, failing to cover by an average of 7.4 points in those games.
Houston Texans
Team: The Texans haven’t won a game in consecutive weeks since Weeks 5-6 (their wins in Week 13 and 15 were separated by their bye).
QB: C.J. Stroud has weapons around him, but the loss of Tank Dell is impactful in more ways than one.
- Yards Per Attempt with Dell: 8.0
- Yards Per Attempt without Dell: 7.0 (down 12.5%)
- Air Yards Per Non-Pressured Pass with Dell: 8.8
- Air Yards Per Non-Pressured Pass without Dell: 6.6 (down 25%)
- Deep Passer Rating with Dell: 107.4
- Deep Passer Rating without Dell: 90 (down 16.2%)
Offense: The vertical game this season simply hasn’t been clicking. In his first 19 games, Stroud didn’t throw an interception on 147 deep pass attempts – he has six INTs on 97 such attempts since.
Defense: Houston sits at 8-1 when holding opponents to a sub-40% conversion rate on third down (1-5 otherwise).
Fantasy: Dalton Schultz has scored at least 15 PPR points in two of his past three games and posted a 21.6% target share on Saturday against the Chiefs – his role could be as favorable this week as any up to this point given the matchup and injury to Dell.
Betting: Unders are 9-3-1 in Houston’s past 13 home games, most recently was Week 15’s 20-12 win over the Dolphins (closing total: 46.5 points).