Derrick Henry could be seen with his shoe off on the sideline of Tennessee’s Week 8 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. That was a disturbing sight for a player who has been superhuman on the field over the last three seasons. An even more disturbing sight for Titans fans and Henry fantasy managers was the below Tweet from Adam Schefter informing us that the injury is potentially season-ending.
More than anything, I want to wish a speedy and full recovery for one of the most exciting and dominant players in the NFL. He’s leaving a huge opportunity share (85.1 percent; number two among RBs) for Tennessee to replace.
Jeremy McNichols is likely the first player to get a crack at handling the majority of the work. He’s a bit of a mystery as he’s only handled 56 career carries; however, he boasts an impressive college resume and great workout numbers. Some folks were regarding him as the best RB value in the 2017 NFL Draft. He has the skill-set to be an every-down RB and a major factor for fantasy the rest of the season.
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Adrian Peterson is rumored to be coming in to work out for the Titans. Coaches love the veteran RB and tend to give him way more work than is helpful to the team. He won’t have standalone fantasy value if the Titans do sign him because he is not a pass catcher. He’ll serve to siphon opportunities away from McNichols thus making both RBs less fantasy relevant.
The injury hurts the efficiency of the passing game. The play action has been crucial to Tennessee’s offense through the entirety of Mike Vrabel’s tenure as head coach. It should theoretically be worse without the threat of Derrick Henry toting the football.
There has to be a philosophical change of the offense in response to Henry’s injury. Vrabel is a smart head coach and this is a smart organization. I’m going to trust them to do the right thing and pass the ball a lot more. Tennessee is 19th in passing attempts on the season, so expect to see Ryan Tannehill throw the ball a lot more. This increases the already incredibly high output of A.J. Brown and it bodes well for Julio Jones if/when he returns to the starting lineup.
All passing game options get a boost in the wake of the injury. Expect to see Tannehill used more around the goal line as well considering he has a knack for scoring rushing TDs even with Henry healthy. I expect Tannehill’s fantasy outlook to get a slight bump due to the increase in passing volume catapulting A.J. Brown into the top five for the remainder of the season.
The moral of the story: spend whatever FAAB you have left (keep $1) on Jeremy McNichols because he is going to be a mega-star for the second half of the fantasy season.
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