The New England Patriots will face the Tennessee Titans in Week 9. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding TE Hunter Henry.
Is Hunter Henry Playing in Week 9?
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 Patriots’ 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 Hunter Henry in Week 9?
Henry is averaging 13.3 PPR points over his past three games, earning 20 looks across those games and proving that he is capable of leading this otherwise unproven roster of pass catchers. How much does his value hinge on the signal caller?
Those charts look pretty similar, right? The playbook isn’t any different, but the reads are. Under Maye, Henry has produced 29.9% over fantasy expectations while averaging 2.1 yards per route run, a drastic improvement from his marks under Brissett (18.2% below expectation and 1.5 yards per route).
The Titans have allowed the fifth-highest short-touchdown pass rate this season, and that puts Henry on the low-end TE1 radar, but he’ll flirt with my top 10 should the rookie be back under center.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Week 9 Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Hunter Henry’s Fantasy Points Projection in Week 9
Henry is projected to score 9.2 fantasy points in PPR formats. This includes 3.3 receptions for 37.8 yards and 0.4 touchdowns.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
PFN Insights: Tennessee Titans Defense
If you listened to NFL Network or the broadcast on Sunday you would have thought the Tennessee Titans’ defense was an elite unit, and while they are not bad, they are far from elite. They have only put together two top-10 performances in a single game this season, and both of those came against below-average offenses (the Bears and Dolphins). Outside of that, they have had one week inside the top 15 from the other five games.
Sunday got messy fast, and while it was not all the defense’s fault, they did little to stop the Lions. They continue to struggle inside the red zone, allowing touchdowns on 61.9% of trips. They also rank last in the league in terms of turnovers rate (2.6%), while they are fifth from last when it comes to creating pressure without blitzing.
There have been some positives, as they rank in the top five in terms of third-down conversion rate, yards per play, and success rate against the pass. The problem is that their offense cannot score enough points, and this defense cannot create turnovers or stop teams scoring consistently when they get inside the red zone.
For more insight on all other team defenses, head to our PFN Defense+ Metric Analysis.
Hunter Henry’s Week 9 Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 6:00 AM ET on Thursday, January 2. If you're in a Superflex league, make sure you check out our Weekly Consensus Superflex Rankings.
Week 18 TE PPR Rankings
1) Brock Bowers | LV (vs. LAC)
2) Sam LaPorta | DET (vs. MIN)
3) Trey McBride | ARI (vs. SF)
4) T.J. Hockenson | MIN (at DET)
5) Jonnu Smith | MIA (at NYJ)
6) Mark Andrews | BAL (vs. CLE)
7) Tucker Kraft | GB (vs. CHI)
8) George Kittle | SF (at ARI)
9) Chigoziem Okonkwo | TEN (vs. HOU)
10) Pat Freiermuth | PIT (vs. CIN)
11) Zach Ertz | WAS (at DAL)
12) Hunter Henry | NE (vs. BUF)
13) Kyle Pitts | ATL (vs. CAR)
14) Isaiah Likely | BAL (vs. CLE)
15) Jake Ferguson | DAL (vs. WAS)
16) Mike Gesicki | CIN (at PIT)
17) Juwan Johnson | NO (at TB)
18) Noah Gray | KC (at DEN)
19) Brenton Strange | JAX (at IND)
20) Dalton Schultz | HOU (at TEN)
21) Dalton Kincaid | BUF (at NE)
22) Cole Kmet | CHI (at GB)
23) Tyler Conklin | NYJ (vs. MIA)
24) Austin Hooper | NE (vs. BUF)
25) Noah Fant | SEA (at LAR)
26) Grant Calcaterra | PHI (vs. NYG)
27) Travis Kelce | KC (at DEN)
28) Foster Moreau | NO (at TB)
29) Jordan Akins | CLE (at BAL)
30) Daniel Bellinger | NYG (at PHI)
31) Stone Smartt | LAC (at LV)
32) Ja'Tavion Sanders | CAR (at ATL)
33) Payne Durham | TB (vs. NO)
34) Dawson Knox | BUF (at NE)
35) Michael Mayer | LV (vs. LAC)
New England Patriots at Tennessee Titans Insights
New England Patriots
Team: The Patriots beat the Jets on Sunday with 247 yards of offense. Surprisingly, that was the eighth time in eight weeks a team has won with under 250 yards of offense (the Broncos also did it to the Jets in Week 4).
QB: Jacoby Brissett has yet to clear 5.5 yards per attempt in a game this season and has two touchdown passes on 159 attempts (Will Levis thinks that’s a low rate; he has five on 125 attempts this season).
Offense: The Patriots have converted six of seven red zone trips into touchdowns over the past three weeks (Weeks 1-5: 4-of-13).
Defense: New England’s defensive game plan adjusts as much week over week as any. They blitzed 17.2% of the time on Sunday – they’ve been at 25%, the lowest in four games, but also at 40% or the highest in three games, including Weeks 6-7).
Fantasy: Rhamondre Stevenson scored a pair of touchdowns on Sunday, but his 27 carries over the past two weeks have gained just 66 yards, and if Drake Maye misses time, even more running lanes are likely to close.
Betting: The Patriots are 1-3 ATS on the road this season – they’ve had plenty of issues since Tom Brady left town, but they’ve yet to have a losing ATS road record since his departure.
Tennessee Titans
Team: The Titans have been blown out in back-to-back weeks by Super Bowl contenders, but they own a +9 point differential this season in three games that are sub-.500 this season.
QB: Mason Rudolph averaged 15.6 yards per pass in the first quarter on Sunday and 3.9 the rest of the way.
Offense: The Titans converted 46.2% of their third downs in 2020. That number dipped to 43.6% in 2021, 36.5% in 2022, and 33.5% in 2023. Through eight weeks this season? The trend continues: 30.6%.
Defense: The Titans have failed to force a turnover in five of seven games this season.
Fantasy: Calvin Ridley had 118 first-quarter receiving yards, the 10th most in a first quarter since the start of 2015. He entered the game with 56 receiving yards in his four games prior.
Betting: The Titans have failed to cover all three home games this season and are just 1-5-1 ATS over their past seven in front of their fans.