After playing the entire season to this point, the question of whether Derrick Henry is playing tonight has arisen at arguably the worst time for fantasy football managers. At such a crucial part of the season, not being sure whether your RB1 is playing on Thursday Night Football can be extremely frustrating. Let’s examine the latest in regards to Henry’s injury status and what it means from a fantasy perspective this week.
Is Derrick Henry Playing Tonight?
Based on Henry’s status coming out of Wednesday’s practice, it seems extremely unlikely that the Tennessee Titans RB will suit up this week. The Titans tagged Henry as doubtful, which is virtually ruling him out. There are very rare occurrences of players who are doubtful that suit up for the game.
The main reason NFL teams tend to tag a player as doubtful is in case they need them to play due to an unforeseen event. Therefore, if one or both Hassan Haskins and Julius Chestnut were to come down with an illness Thursday, the Titans could still consider having Henry active in Week 17. However, those opportunities tend to be extremely rare, so we should expect Henry to miss Thursday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys.
MORE: Hassan Haskins or Julius Chestnut Start/Sit Week 17
The first sign we got that Henry might not be active this week was when he was listed as a non-participant Monday. While that practice was just a walkthrough, it gave an indication that the star RB may not play. When the Titans returned to the field on Tuesday, Henry was at least out there as a limited participant.
In the locker room on Tuesday, Henry told reporters that he would do what the team needed him to do. That would suggest that if the team needed him active this week, he would have been able to go. However, with Tennessee’s season essentially hinging on them defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Titans decided to list Henry as doubtful on their final injury report, despite him managing another limited practice on Wednesday.
Assuming Henry is out, that leaves the Titans’ backfield in a somewhat interesting state. Rookie RBs Haskins and Chestnut are the only two other backs on the roster, with Dontrell Hilliard on the IR. They also have a veteran option, Jonathan Ward, on the practice squad, who they could activate before the 4 p.m. ET deadline on Thursday.
In terms of their expected usage, it seems like Haskins will be the primary option in Henry’s absence. He has played 27 snaps in the past two weeks, while Chestnut has played just one. Chestnut saw 14 total snaps in the two weeks that Haskins was hurt, with seven total touches. However, we could also see the Titans lean on Ward if he is activated.
All of this makes it close to impossible to trust any of the three, especially in 12-team leagues. In 14-team leagues, Haskins is the one that we expect to see the most opportunities around the goal line and on early downs, but being 100% sure is tough to do. Therefore, this trio very much becomes a desperation option in 16-team leagues if things are really bad at the RB position for you this week.